Xanax and Brain Bleach Required
by Kate Manoso
Summary: A collection of one shots. Results of pure boredom, insanity, and challenge responses from Yahoo Groups that I belong to. Angst, humor, romance, smut. Alright. Pretty much a little of everything. New one shot posted!
1. A Father's Words

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

**A Father's Words**

"I know something about love," he said. "You gotta take it and show him what the world is made of. One kiss will prove it. If you want him to be always by your side, take his hand tonight and swallow your foolish pride."

I know that the look on my face said that I thought he had grown a second head. It was just that all of that was a lot to come out of my father's mouth at one time. I'd usually get a grunt or a single word. Like he was a RangeMan employee or something.

"What are you talking about, Daddy?" I asked once I found my voice.

"That's part of a song that I heard today," he said without looking over at me, his eyes glued to the game on the television in front of us. "It's one of those songs that you hear once every blue moon, but you never forget the words."

It's possible that my father has finally fallen off his rocker. Maybe he's been spending too much time in the same vicinity as Grandma. Never the less, he's actually talking, so I'm not going to micro-analyze the change, just enjoy it as much as I can.

"The words don't ring a bell for me," I said quietly.

"Did you actually hear what I said, Pumpkin?"

He looked over at me. I nodded.

"The song reminded me of you." His face went from its normal blank expression to being very serious.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," I sighed, "but I don't understand."

"This is the happiest that I've ever seen you, Pumpkin," he said with his own sigh. "You have a great job that you actually enjoy."

My surprise must have shown on my face.

"I do have ears," he chided. "I may not comment on everything like your mother and grandmother, but I still know what's going on."

"You never talk about stuff with us, so I guess I thought that you weren't paying attention," I shrugged and wrinkled my brow into a puzzled frown. "But I still don't get what this has to do with the song."

"Let me finish," he said as he patted my knee.

I tried to hide my shock from his physical interaction, but I must have failed because he sighed again and shook his head.

"I know that I haven't been the best father-"

"Of course you have," I interrupted. "You've been a great dad. You're always around when me and Val need you."

"But I shouldn't have just been there when you needed me," he argued. "I should have done a lot more for you, Stephanie. I should have told your mother to back off when things were falling apart with you and Joe. You don't know how proud I was of you for finally standing up to her and telling her to mind her own business."

"I got tired of being told what to do. I'm thirty-five years old. I can make my own decisions."

"I know," he smiled. "And part of those decisions led you back to working at RangeMan full time."

I nodded because he was right.

"A few weeks after you started working there, you seemed even happier." He paused for a moment, giving himself time to figure out how to phrase his next thought. "I thought for a moment that maybe you had finally gotten together with Ranger. But, then I realized that your grandmother would have been harassing you much more about him than she usually does, or you would have started acting differently when she does."

"Ranger's just my friend, Daddy," I explained. "It's not that he doesn't love me, because he does. His problem is that he can't do relationships. Or maybe it's that he can't do a relationship with me. But either way, he's just my friend."

"I know," he nodded. "But there is someone that you have been seeing. I can understand not wanting to bring him home for dinner. Your mother and grandmother can be a little much sometimes. Plus, if Val and her chaotic family were to be here as well…"

"The guys request hazard pay to come here for a reason, Daddy," I said with a knowing smile. "They claim that spending time here causes mental anguish."

My father chuckled at that, "I wish I got hazard pay sometimes."

"You seem to take everything pretty well."

"I do most days," he acknowledged as his chuckle subsided. "This is all beside the point that I'm trying to make. Just be quiet for a minute, and let me tell you something. Okay?"

I did the zipping my lips thing and he grinned.

"He makes you happy," he stated as his face sobered. "Your eyes twinkle and you get this goofy grin sometimes when you run off to take a phone call. I don't know who it is and, frankly, it doesn't matter. I know 'in love' when I see it, Pumpkin, and you are definitely in love."

I really didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't say anything.

"Does he make you so happy that every time you are near him you feel euphoric?" he asked. "Does he make you so happy that you wonder if you could possibly live without him? As though he's the very part of you that makes you want to breathe?"

I just nodded.

"Have you told him that you love him?"

I shook my head no. A surge of fear shot through me at the mere thought of telling him.

"Why?" my father asked gently.

"Because whenever I tell someone that I love them it doesn't work out," I whispered. "What if I tell him and he says that he doesn't love me?"

"You have to take a leap of faith, Pumpkin," he answered patiently "If he doesn't love you then he isn't the type of man that would be good for you anyway, and you could start looking for someone else. But if he does love you, then it will open up so much more in life for the two of you. Saying the words will free you. It makes life so much better to live when you know exactly how much you mean to another person."

I leaned my head back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling. My father, the love doctor. He did give me a lot to think about. We spent the next hour in companionable silence; him watching TV and me staring at the ceiling.

In the end, I realized my father was right. I needed to say how I felt and, for once, I felt good about needing to say it out loud. I grabbed my bag of leftovers from my mother and headed back to Haywood for the night.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face when I entered my apartment and found him laying on my couch. Sexy as hell in a pair of fade blue jeans, his white t-shirt making his dark Mediterranean skin look even darker. His grey eyes always seem to look straight into my soul every time he looks at me.

He grinned at me, baring perfectly white teeth, and jumped up to take the bag from my hands. Grabbing me around my waist, he pulled me with him into the small kitchen to put the bag in the fridge.

"How was dinner?" he asked leaning back against the counter as he pulled me in between his long legs.

"Interesting," I said after I thought about it for a moment.

He raised a dark brown eye brow.

I took a deep breath and backed up a bit, giving myself a little room in case I had to bolt.

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I gave a wave of my hand. "I just need a little space so that I can say something to you."

"This doesn't sound too good." His frown was replace by the well-practiced blank face.

"It all depends on what you have to say about it." I was stalling, and I knew it.

"Well, say it and I'll respond."

"I'minlovewithyou." The words rushed out of my mouth at breakneck speed.

"A little slower."

I took another deep breath, "I'm in love with you."

A blinding smile broke out over his face. His eyes twinkled with an excitement that I had never seen before as he reached out for me. He wrapped his arms around me and brought his face down towards mine.

"I've been waiting for you to say that for years," he whispered against my lips. "I'm in love with you too, Stephanie."

The sound of his voice, deep and full of emotion, sent shivers down my spine. I licked my suddenly dry lips and inadvertently skimmed his full bottom lip. He groaned as our lips slammed together, his hands sliding up my back to fist in my hair.

"Can I make love to you now?" he asked, his voice deep with desire once he broke the kiss.

"I thought you'd never ask, Ram."


	2. Different Sides of the Same Coin

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

**Different Sides of the Same Coin**

He is beautiful, there was no mistaking that.

The way that the corner of his mouth curls up when he's amused. The way that his light brown eyes wrinkle at the corners when he laughs. His laugh. The way his skin gleams after working out in the morning. The way that his hair, in desperate need of a cut, falls over his forehead and dangles in his eyes as he leans over.

But there is so much more to his beauty than what is presented on the outside.

A slightly haunted expression comes to his face at the end of the day. I don't want to think about the things that he's seen or done, nor would I ever want to after the things that I've seen and done. It may be selfish, but I have more than enough nightmares of my own. It's his past that brings a fierceness to the way that he holds himself, always prepared to defend anyone at the drop of a dime. That's what he is. A defender. A warrior. A knight in shining armor. And it will always be to the death for him in everything that he comes up against.

The nights are the hardest for him.

He wakes up shaking and sweating, a sob braking through his lips as he runs into my room and dives into my bed. It's gut wrenching for me, that there's nothing that I can say or do to make it better for him. There are no words in any language that can make such a deep pain cease to harm him. His inner pain is agonizing for me to see in his eyes and the air around us fills with a desperation to make it all stop. But how do you go back and change the past? And if you could, would any of us have the strength to change it?

The body of a Greek God, the soul of an ancient warrior…

Those are sadly diminished by the mind set of an abused child. The lack of any possessions that would hold any type of sentimental value is part of the proof. No small knick knacks or treasured sweaters. He covets his body and his body alone, because that is the one thing that can never be taken from him. Growing up in a broken home with a physically abusive father and fighting his way through the gutter of civilization forced this attitude. Having to pray every night that you'll make it to see the sun rise the next morning is no way to live. It's devastating that I still hear his voice whisper through the darkness of my room, praying for safe keeping, before his breathing evens out.

The irony of it all?

Everything that I say about him is the same thing that I say about myself. The only difference is that he wakes me up from my nightmares and it's his name that I whisper, along with mine, as I say my prayers at night.

* * *

His inner self moves me more than any other person has.

His soul-deep need to protect others is matched only by my own. It's a burden that we both share, a… want to keep the black depths of man's misery at bay to those who might fall prey to it. Our lives, following the same parallel path, turned us into warriors for the masses.

He has a beauty to him that no one ever sees.

It's his rough hands, lacing through my hair as he pulls me close and tucks me under his chin. It's his steel-corded arms, wrapping around my chest and anchor me to his body. It's his massive thighs, being flung over mine to connect us from heat to toe. It's his broad chest, turning into my pillow every night.

He is the other side of my coin.

We were one and the same. Growing up the way that we did and seeing all the hatred that man forced upon the masses. It was like a gravitational pull that guided us to each other, some inner instinct telling us that we had both found someone safe.

It's the darkness of his room that makes us whole again.

His haunted eyes locked with mine as I climbed onto his bed, knowledge seeping into my brain telling me that I had saved him again from whatever hell he was reliving. The fact is, though, hell would be a fucking picnic compared to what we've been through. And we both knew that hell would be a welcome relief at the end.

* * *

My lips brush against his temple. "The little girl again?"

"How'd you know?" he asks quietly.

"The little girl brings tears to your eyes."

His hand slowly comes up and the light from the bathroom illuminates his tears as he pulls his wet hand back. My arms tighten around him slightly as my chest gets wet. Neither one of us spoke for a while, just holding each other and silently battling with our inner demons.

His voice is barely above a whisper when he finally breaks the silence. "Dear Father. Please protect me and Binkie from the harsh world that we live in and deliver us to the promise land when our time finally arrives. Amen."

"Amen," I whisper into his hair after I place a kiss on his forehead. "Try to get some sleep, Brett."

He nodded and moments later his breath was evening out. His body finally sagged fully against mine and I took a moment to fully enjoy the feeling of him before I settled in to creep back into the darkness. This is the life we lead… and the only way that either one of us can keep sane.


	3. Fourteen Months

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

!!!Warning!!! NOT BABE FRIENDLY!!!! BAD LANGUAGE AND ANGST AHEAD!!!! READ NO FURTHER IF SUCH THINGS ARE OFFENSIVE!!!!!

A/N: I don't know what my problem is. I guess I just have a lot of pent up rage and Ranger seems to be an easy target at the moment. Sorry. CSK

**Fourteen Months**

"Let go!" I shouted as I wrenched my arm out of his firm grip once we got into the alley.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Ranger demanded as he folded his arms over his chest, blank face firmly in place.

"_14. That's all I have to say to you. 14 months_," I shouted as I waved my hands in the air.

My anger had been slowly building over the last few months and I just couldn't take it any more. I had quit answering my phone when any of the RangeMan numbers came up. I went out of my way to stay as far away from him as I could. And I still had the unfortunate luck of running into him as I dropped off some body receipts.

"14 months?" Ranger asked, a frown forming between his eyebrows.

"14 fucking months!" I shouted. Just because he's being calm doesn't mean that I have to. "He's been gone for 14 fucking months!"

Ranger's face turned very dark as he stared at me. I, frankly, didn't care if he got pissed. He wasn't the one that had a boyfriend that was trapped in another country.

"You're kidding, right?" he said as he tried to slip on an incredulous look.

"No!" I shouted as I tried to get passed him to leave.

He reached out and tried to grab my arm again. I hit his hand away and took a few large steps back into the alley. I could just walk out the back and walk around the building. But my car was out front and he'd just try to grab me again there. If he wanted a fight then he was going to get one.

"Are you really this much of an asshole? Or are you jealous that I'm with someone that isn't you?" I hissed as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

"You knew what you were getting into when you started dating him, Babe," Ranger argued. "Don't get pissed at me for your boyfriend being on a mission."

"Oh, no!" I yelled. "He's not just on one mission, Ranger. This is now his fifth mission without so much as being able to step one foot on American soil. Did you think that if you just kept him on missions that I'd forget about him?"

"He isn't right for you," Ranger hissed. "You need to move on."

"Who in the hell are you to say that he isn't right for me? You aren't my fucking father, Ranger," I said, trying desperately to keep my voice down so that I wouldn't draw any attention to us.

He just stared at me. My anger was starting to finally fade and I realized just how tired I really was. I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in months and it was starting to take its toll. I went for the most honest thing that I could say to try to get Ranger to see reason.

"I left Joe for you," I said quietly without looking away from him. "We tried it and it didn't work out. You still couldn't let me in, Ranger. I can't live with only knowing half of someone. I knew that there were things about your government contracts that you couldn't tell me. But you didn't let me in to the rest of your life. I was always just standing on the outside of everything. I can't do that for the rest of my life."

He just remained silent so I went on.

"Ram let me in," I said, a slight plea in my voice as I begged him to understand. "He introduced me to his family. He took me out on actual dates. We talked about normal everyday stuff and the little things that happened when we were growing up. I know what his favorite color is and that he had a dog named Skippy when he was ten."

The blank mask started to crack as something passed over his eyes. The closest thing that I could call it was regret, but there was something else there. Something that he hid very quickly.

"You've spent so much time keeping people out that you don't know how to let someone in," I said sadly. "I hope that, someday, you'll be able to let all of those steel walls down and learn how to love someone completely, Ranger. Life is just too damn short to live it without loving someone more than the air that you breath."

That look passed through his eyes again and I caught enough to name it. Fear. Was Ranger afraid of being alone? That just didn't sound right.

"You love Ram that much?" Ranger asked, finally breaking his silence.

"I love him so much that it hurts to breathe when he's not near me," I whispered.

Ranger's head fell forward as his hands came up to rub his face. Now I knew something wasn't right. His body language was all wrong. It should have been slightly slumped, defeated. Instead, it was wound tight.

"Ranger?"

"Fuck!" he yelled through his hands. "God damn it!"

"Ranger?" Fear started weaving through my stomach.

"I'm so sorry, Babe," Ranger said as he lunged for me and grabbed my arms. I felt myself flinch. I tried to pull back, but his grip tightened. "This is all my fault. I thought that I could get you back if he wasn't around. I didn't think that he meant that much to you. I swear that if I would have known, I wouldn't have sent him off like that."

"Ranger-"

"He's dead, Babe."

And just like that… the world tilted off its axis and everything went black.


	4. He's Back

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

_**He's Back**_

I felt his presence in my bedroom before I felt his hand on my thigh. My lips twitch into a smile as his hand worked its way up my thigh and along my hip under the comforter. My bed sunk under his weight as he climbed on. His lips teased my naked shoulder as he lowered himself down on me, effectively pinning me on my stomach. Not that I'd run from him. I'd have to be insane to do that.

"Good morning, Sunshine," he whispered in my ear.

"It's always a good morning when you're here," I said as I stretched out under him.

I let out a soft moan when he rubbed his hips against my ass. He was rock hard and ready for action at the ungodly hour of six a.m. I hated that he loved to wake me up so early in the morning. It was his funny little way of torturing the crap out of me.

He disappeared for a moment and I heard his utility belt and clothes hit the floor. I squeaked when the blanket was ripped off the bed and cool air raced across my body. He chuckled when I looked over my shoulder and gave him my best 'Burg' glare. I've always known that my glares don't effect him, but I still have to try just incase it actually works.

Damn it! He was a sight for sore eyes. I hadn't seen him in two weeks. Fourteen days. He had been called out of town and, from the looks of things, he had just gotten back. It was definitely going to be a good morning by the smile that was slowly forming on his lips as he took in the sight of my naked body. I rolled onto my side and gave him a saucy smile as I fingered him over to the bed.

He slowly walked back to my bed and laid down next to me. I pushed a lock of blonde hair back off of his forehead as his head hit my pillow. The dark circles under his eyes didn't help the dull edge that was laying under their bright green shade. He looked tired and wary. I couldn't even imagine the last time he got a good nights rest.

"The night before I left," he whispered with a sad smile.

I reached up and laid my hand on his cheek. He was well beyond a five o'clock shadow. There were traces of green and black face paint across his forehead and cheek bones. I lightly ran my finger across his forehead and showed him that he didn't clean up too well.

"How was South America?" I asked quietly.

"Hundred and ten degrees with one hundred percent humidity."

"Sound fantastic," I said with a smile. "Can I go next time?"

He chuckled and pulled me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his chest. It had been a long fourteen nights without him. He smelled like sweat, dirt, and gun oil. It was the greatest thing that I had ever smelled in my whole life. I took in a deep breath and smiled lazily as I closed my eyes.

"I must smell terrible," he whispered into my hair. "I haven't showered in ten days."

"I think that you smell fantastic," I whispered as I tilted my head up to look at him. I had memorized his face before he left, and my memory hadn't done him any justice.

"I still think that I should jump in the shower."

"If you really need to," I whined as I released him.

I watched his muscles ripple as he rolled out of bed. He walked, in all of his glorious nakedness, to the bathroom and flipped the light on. I leaned up on my elbow to get a better look as he brushed his teeth at the sink. I noted the bruises on his legs and arms as I assessed all of the new damage. My breath caught in my throat when my eyes caught sight of the large line of stitches that ran down his back. I silently rolled off the bed and walked up behind him.

He tensed when I ran my fingers lightly along the twenty some odd inches of stitches that ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip. He glanced over his shoulder at me and gave me a weak smile before returning to his teeth. I ran my hands around the rest of his body, looking for other injuries as he shaved. He winced when I ran my fingers over a bruise on his left ribs.

I turned on the shower to just below scorching and pulled him in. I positioned him under the shower head and patiently waited for most of the dirt to go down the drain. Once the water started running clear, I squirted shampoo on his head and washed his hair. I ended up repeating the process three times before it started to feel squeaky clean. I threw on some conditioner and fashioned him a Mohawk.

I moved him out from under the water and started washing his body to give the conditioner time to sit. His eyes were closed and there was a small smile twitching at the corners of his full lips as I washed his arms and chest. I past his erection, that I hadn't noticed growing, and moved down to do his legs. I heard a low moan escape his throat when I knelt in front of him to get to his calves. I chuckled as I pushed him back under the water to rinse his hair and the body parts that I had washed.

I was admiring his fantastic, rock hard ass as I washed it when I felt him shudder under my hands. I quickly found myself pinned against the shower stall wall with his tongue sliding into my mouth. My system lit on fire as he slid me up the wall so that I was at his eye level. I savored the feeling of wrapping my legs around his trim waist as his hands trailed down my ribs and came to a rest on my ass. I moaned against his lips when I felt the tip of his erection graze against my vagina. I raked my fingers through his hair and brought him further into the kiss as I started to go crazy.

Tearing my lips from his, I cried out his name as he slowly started to push himself inside me. He entered me at an agonizingly slow rate as his eyes bore down into mine, watching as my need for him increased. I was frantic with the need to feel all of him inside me and I bucket my hips against him. I watched his eyes roll back into his head as his hips met mine and he was completely inside me.

We reveled in the feeling of each other for a moment before he slowly started moving. I dug my nails into his shoulder and started bucking against him. Meeting him thrust for thrust as he tortured my mouth with sweet kisses. I cried out his name again as my orgasm ripped through my body. He sped up his thrusts to stretch out my orgasm. I faintly heard him whisper my name as he emptied out inside of me. The simply sound of his voice send me flying over the edge and another orgasm rolled through me.

He was leaning into me, keeping me pinned up on the wall, as he caught his breath. I felt slightly disappointed when he slipped out of me as I ran my fingers up and down his back. He slowly lowered me to the floor, but he kept his arms wrapped around me because he knew that my legs were never trust worthy after sex. I looked up and grinned at his satisfied smile. I pushed him out of the shower once I got my legs back and took a few minutes to wash up before I exited as well.

I walked out of my bathroom and found him sprawled across my bed, channel surfing. I shook my head at the manners of men as I wandered down the hall to the kitchen. I grabbed two bottles of water and headed back to my bed room. I climbed on the bed and straddled his lap as I handed him a bottle. I watched his eyebrows dance as he grinned up at me. I had already known that the shower had just been foreplay for him. He had a tendency for going for hours unless you stopped him. There had been a few times where I had spent a few days walking around bow legged because of one night with him.

I grabbed the remote out of his hand and turned the TV off as I downed my bottle of water. I peered down at him out of the corner of my eye and felt satisfied as he quickly drank his water with a hint of anticipation in his eyes. I grinned down at him wickedly as I threw my empty bottle over my shoulder. He reached up and pulled me down to his lips. The kiss was aggressive and dangerous. It stole my breath and made my mind go fuzzy.

I slowly pulled back and pushed him back down when he tried to sit up with me. I pinned his hands to the mattress and winked at him. A smile spread across his lips and he stopped struggling against me.

"Just relax, Lover," I whispered as I moved down his body.

My mouth started to water with anticipation as I took in the sight of his full erection, he had a great recovery time. I flicked my tongue across the tip and I heard him growl between clenched teeth. Starting at the base, I ran my tongue along his length before I took him into my mouth. He gasped and I saw his fists clench the sheets out of the corner of my eyes as I slowly started to bob my head. His breath quickened as I cupped his balls with my right hand and gripped the base of his shaft with my left. Seconds later he started trembling as he exploded in my mouth and I sucked him dry.

"That was amazing," he whispered as I kissed my way up his body.

"I'm not done yet, Lover," I whispered as I trailed my tongue around his right nipple.

He brought his hands up to cup my face to pull me closer. I eased my way up his body and let his lips capture mine. He chuckled lightly when I nipped at his smooth chin as I made my way down to his neck. He had a sweet spot at the base of his neck, just above his collar bone, that gave him an instant hard on if I flicked my tongue across it. He let out a soft growl when my tongue hit the spot and he flipped us over.

Heat flooded my body as I gazed into his eyes. They had gone dark green, a hint that he was at his peek on the desire scale. This was going to be fun! He playfully licked my chin and gave me a devious smile. My breath got caught in my throat as he slowly moved down my body. My eyes, involuntarily, rolled into the back of my head as he caught my right nipple in between his teeth. My hips arched off the bed when his left hand came up my ribs and started tracing circles around my left nipple as his mouth continued its assault on my right.

His left hand abandoned my breast and started trailing its way down my ribs. My breathing quickened when he ran his fingers lightly over my hip bone and down my thigh. He was happily teasing the hell out of me. He trailed his hand back up my inner thigh and along my lips before he slid it back up my body to recapture my breast. That light caress had set me reeling out of control.

"Damn it!" I moaned.

"Patience," he whispered and then started kissing his way back up to my collar bone. "It's been a long fourteen days, Honey. I've missed you terribly."

"You've missed sex with me terribly," I said with a laugh as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I gave him a mischievous smile and added, "You know that you can't wait to be hip deep in me again."

He moaned and slid back into me. I braced myself against the head board as he started pounding into me. My words had broken whatever control he had been hanging onto. He unleashed his raw need for me as he ruthlessly started banging me harder. Every thrust rubbed against my g-spot and I felt my feet start to tingle. He brought his hand up and lightly gripped my throat. He applied slight pressure to the back of my neck with his thumb and it sent me spiraling out of control. I cried out his name as the first wave of my orgasm swept through my body.

He slowed his pace and released my neck as I came floating down from heaven. I reached up and pulled him down to me, capturing his lips with mine and kissed him with everything that I was worth. I poured every ounce of love that I had for him into the kiss without thinking about the consequences. It took me a moment to realize that he had quit moving. I released his lips and he pulled back.

"Steph…"

"I love you," I whispered.

He groaned my name as he emptied himself out into me. His lips crashed down on mine and he wiped all thoughts out of my mind. I clung to him as he slowly started moving inside me. Every movement was slow and sensual. Every touch seared my skin. Every kiss was locked into my memory. He gave me everything that he had and it was more then I had ever hoped for.

We laid in each others arms, completely spent. Each floating high above the earth. He grunted when he heard his cell phone ring, but he didn't make a move to get it. I chuckled lightly when I heard my cell phone ring moments later.

"How long do you think that we have before he gets here?" I asked.

"Knowing Ranger," he said as he lifted himself up on his elbow. "Ten minutes."

He looked down at me and smiled as he tucked a stray curl behind my ear. His eyes were bright and sparkling. There were no longer any hints of the mission that he had just returned from. I ran my hand across his cheek and behind his neck. I pulled his lips down to mine and gave him a light kiss.

"I love you, Steph," he whispered against my lips.

"You better, Lester," I said as I smiled up at him. "Other wise I'd have Ranger kill you."

"He may kill me anyways. I'm late for a meeting," he said with a laugh as he climbed out of my bed.

I lounged in my bed as I watched him walk over to the closet and pull out clothes. He smiled when he caught me staring at him as he got dressed. He disappeared into the bathroom and I flipped on CNN. They were doing a report on a drug lord in South America that had been assassinated. A smile spread across my lips because I knew who had killed him and it didn't bother me in the least. Lester walked back out of the bathroom and dropped a kiss on my head with a promise to be back around six this evening.

I rolled out of bed when I heard the front door close. Just another day in the life of Stephanie Plum.

_**The End.**_


	5. Her

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters. Loosely based on an idea from a friend.

**Her**

I want her.

I've wanted a lot of women throughout my life. But I was desperate for this one woman. I _wanted_ her. I wanted to feel her quiver in my arms. I wanted to sink into her and lose myself. I wanted to hear my name fall from her lips as she fell over the edge.

She didn't know it, but everything about her was perfect to me. Her curly, wild hair. Her deep blue eyes that sparkled as she laughed. Her pouty, full lips. The way her hips swayed so naturally as she walked. Her long legs, that were made just for wrapping around a man's waist. Just the thought of her legs was enough to give me an erection.

But it wasn't just the way she looked. She was smarter than half of our crew, and some of those guys went to MIT. She was sweet and tender, giving herself more completely to her friends then most people gave to their lovers. She was funny as hell, even when she wasn't trying. And she was the bravest woman I had ever met. She just went right into danger like it was nothing.

The thing that got me the most is the way that she treats us. I'll be the first to admit that we are a scary crew. All of us are huge and carry a menacing air about us. But she just took us all right in and never questioned any of it. Okay. She questioned a little. But she's never forced any of us to go down the dark roads of our past. And that makes her more precious to all of us.

I know I'm not the only one that feels this way about her. Ninety-five percent of our company is in love with her. But there isn't a single one that had the balls to cross Ranger and go after her.

Until today.

She smiled at me. "Hey, Les. What are you doing?"

I stretched out in the chair in her cubby that sat next to her desk. "I just wanted to stop by and see you."

"What do you want, Les?" she asked as she rolled her eyes. "You have 'hidden agenda' written all over your face."

I tried to look offended but ended up grinning and she tilted her head back to laugh as she sat down. "Can't a guy just stop by to see his favorite girl?"

"If it had been anyone but you, I might have bought that bull shit line," she said as she calmed and shook her head. "But I know I'm not your favorite."

My smile faltered. "You are my favorite."

She studied me for a moment as her computer booted up. Her eyes stared deeply into mine and her smile started to fade. She rolled her chair closer to mine and took my hand in hers.

Her voice was soft, like talking to a frightened child. "What's wrong, Les?"

"You mean more to me than all those bimbos that I've gone after," I admitted. "You know that, don't you?"

"Of course," she said as she gave me a small smile and squeezed my hand. I watched as her eyes got sad and her smile turned fake. "I'm everybody's little sister, right?"

She released my hand and turned to her computer quickly as she grabbed the first file in her 'in' box. Her hands started flying across the keyboard and it seemed like she was trying to dismiss me. I was contemplating leaving when she spoke again.

"Why is that, Les?" she said as she turned back to look at me. "Why am I everyone's little sister?"

I was slightly caught off guard by her direct question. "I think it's because no one knew where else to put you, Steph."

She nodded and looked back at her computer as she chewed her bottom lip. "Is that where I'll always be?"

"Not for me."

Her blue eyes were huge when she looked back at me. "What?"

"You don't always have to be a little sister to me," I said as plainly as I could. "We could be more than that."

"Les-"

I cut her off, feeling desperate at the thought of her turning me down. "I'm not asking you to marry me, Steph. I'm just asking that you go to dinner and maybe a movie."

Her teeth sunk back into her lip as she stared at me. I could see the thoughts running through her head a mile a minute. They started to slow as a smile appeared across her lips. I squashed down my feeling of triumph and waited for her to say the words that I knew where forming in her head.

"Like we could get dressed up?" she asked slowly.

"Anything you want," I said quietly, not wanting to scare her.

"And maybe instead of a movie, we could go dancing?" Her voice was wistful and I immediately wanted to give her whatever her heart desired.

"We could do dinner, a movie, and dancing if you wanted to Steph." My voice dropped down to a whisper as I leaned forward in my chair.

Her eyes were locked with mine and she leaned forward so that we were just inches apart. Jesus. She smelled like chocolate donuts and vanilla. I was a fucking goner and she had no clue.

"When?"

Her question snapped me out of my mental drooling. "Tonight."

"Pick me up at seven?" Her smile was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

I said the only thing that I could. "As you wish."


	6. Locked Doors

_Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing for fun._

_**Locked Doors**_

A smile flickered across my lips when I heard the door to my apartment quietly open and close, the dead bolt sliding into place. I had a feeling that he'd find his way over here tonight, the edge that he held in his eyes this morning being the only indication that I needed. It had been too long since I had shared my bed with him and it was starting to take it's toll on both of us.

His hands came around my hips as his chest molded to my back, his warm breath on my ear sending shivers down my spine. I leaned back into him as his hands slid across the front of my pants, applying pressure as he caressed me through the course fabric. A moan escaped my lips as my hips shifted, feeling his full erection pressing firmly against my ass.

"I've been thinking about you all day," he whispered against my neck, his lips barely touching my skin.

"Really?" I asked as I finally turned to take in the sight of him, my hip brushing against the kitchen counter that he had me pinned to.

He grabbed my ass and pulled me closer as he ground his hips into me, the feeling of how his thoughts had effected him pressing against me. I trailed my fingers around his hips and up his lower back, sneaking under his shirt. I loved the feeling of his warm skin under my hands.

His lips lightly caressed mine as his hands trailed from their firm grasp on my ass, up along my stomach, skating lightly over my chest before they finally came to rest on my neck. My tongue skimmed over his bottom lip, seeking entrance. He moaned into my mouth as my tongue softly caressed his, the kiss was slow and light.

His lips never left mine as I allowed him to push my back towards the alcove that housed my bed. My knees eased up to the edge of the bed and he slowly lowered me down onto my back. He pulled back slightly as he positioned himself over my thighs, staring deeply into my eyes.

"I've missed this," he whispered, his dark hair falling forward and laying across his forehead. "I've missed you."

I smiled as I reached up to push his hair back and said, "I've been right here waiting."

My hand came down and settled on his cheek, his eyes softening slightly before they closed as he leaned into my palm. The brick wall that he normally had built around himself slowly started to crumble under my hand. I had always gotten a rush from it. But, tonight it touched me a little further down towards my heart. One might even say that it had touched my heart, though we had been careful to set up boundaries not to cross. Emotional boundaries being the biggest.

He slowly pulled his face out of my hand after laying a kiss in my palm. He leaned down so that his chest was lightly touching mine, resting most of his body weight on his elbows. I leaned up slightly and his lips grazed against mine, dousing gasoline on the flames of desire that were burning low in my gut. Flames that were ignited by only him.

My hands came up his sides as I worked his shirt up, the need to touch him growing with the flames. His skin was soft and smooth, only the scars of his past marring his beautifully tanned skin. I broke the kiss long enough to remove his shirt, my hand immediately returning to the warm skin on his back to pull him back down to me.

"I wanna bury myself deep inside you," he whispered as his lips trailed down my neck.

"Then what are you waiting for," I asked, slightly breathless.

"I wanna take my time tonight." His voice barely penetrated the desire that was flooding my brain.

My teeth sunk into my bottom lip as his warm breath hit my ear. His tongue snuck out and ran along the shell of my ear, my fingers dug into his back as a chill ran up my spine and goose bumps broke out over my skin. It was going to be a very long, very good, night if he continued to take his time.

I watched as he slowly slid off of my bed and wandered through my apartment. The lights started shutting off as he moved around and I soon found myself completely submerged in blackness, my hearing taking over for my sight. I could hear him move around before he finally came back to the bed. His hands started down at my feet and removed my shoes and socks before he moved up to his place on my lap.

My hands came back out and reached for him to bring his closer. Our lips immediately found each other, like it was something we did every day. Or, maybe we had just become that accustomed to each other. His soft, full lips moved over mine and I could tell that it was a fight for him to keep it light. His fingers came up and moved in to my hair, a favorite place for them to be, as he slowly started moving his hips against mine.

The feeling of him moving against me was almost unbearable. I wanted nothing more then to feel him slide into me, the thought turning me on even more. But, as his need to take things slowly was more over powering then my need to join together, I tried my best to keep things as light as he was. Though it was becoming more and more difficult as his fingers began to move through my hair.

With a groan, he broke the kiss and moved his lips down my throat, pausing to lightly nip at the pulse point. His hands made idle work of removing the rest of my clothing, softly caressing my skin as he went. He took a few extra moments to kiss a few bruises that I had acquired when we brought in a skip yesterday, the tenderness shown causing my breath to hitch in my throat. He was never this soft with me and it was exciting me to no end.

His lips found mine once more and his tongue softly stroked mine, bringing a haze through my mind. My hands roamed over his heated skin as our mouths slowly devoured each other. My breath was coming in short pants as he trailed light kisses down my throat again, never missing the pulse point as he went on his journey.

He left open mouthed kisses across my chest, his tongue flickering out over my nipple before he moved further down. He chuckled at the small gasp that escaped my lips as his tongue swirled into my belly button. Images of what that tongue could do forced my hands up to his head and I pushed him further down my body.

A urge of need raced through my body as he settled himself down between my legs, his hot breath flowing over me. My hands fisted in his hair as his tongue slowly slid along my skin. He was taking his time, savoring my flavor as his tongue ran over every inch, never being exactly where I needed him to be.

My breath rushed out of my chest as my back arched off of the bed when he settled his mouth over me and sucked me in. He worked his tongue in slow swirling motions as he pinned my hips to the bed with his hands, trying hard to keep me still as he took enjoyment out of his slow torture. My hands fisted in his hair as he worked his exquisite mouth over me. I felt my orgasm building and moaned at how good he was making me feel.

White light flashed behind my closed eyelids as my orgasm ripped through my body and flooded his moan. A groan emanated from him and sent a delicious shock wave through me as his tongue continued to swirl around me, collecting every last drop of my release.

He slowly moved his way up me body, his lips lazily leaving a wet trail behind. My eyes slowly opened and locked with his, a smile breaking over my lips as I caught the aroused look in his eyes. I placed my hands on the side of his face and I brought his lips back up to mine, the taste of me still lingering on his tongue.

I eased my thighs open wider as he settle between them. A jolt ran though me as I felt his heated skin against me. He must have removed the rest of his clothes while I was floating high above the rest of the world. I reached over to the nightstand next to my bed and grabbed the condom that sat there. He smiled at my preparedness and took the condom out of my hand after he lightly kissed me.

He made quick work of the condom and was poised at my entrance within the blink of an eye. His eyes locked with mine as he slowly started to slide into me, taking a moment once he was completely inside to allow me to adjust to the size of him before he started to move.

His start off pace was slow and lazy, just enjoying the slow rocking motion that the two of us had settled into. Each slowly rocking move brush against me and I felt myself starting to get even more excited. I caught the smile forming over his lips before they crashed down on mine. He opened up to me slightly and I instantly felt the mode change.

He slowly picked up the pace, his hip bouncing off of my thighs as he started to pound into me, racing towards the climax that had brought him here in the first place.

Just when I thought that I wasn't going to be able to take any more of the friction of our bodies, he slowly slid his right hand up and placed it over my throat. His fingers lightly digging into my throat sent a wave of panic through my body that triggered my release and I fell over the edge whispering his name. Seconds after I started to fall, he joined me, my name falling quietly from his lips mixed with a groan.

We stared at each other for a moment, trying to catch our breath, as he lightened his hold on my neck. His eyes softened as his fingers slowly started to massage their way down their throat. We continued to lay there, with him still buried deep inside me for several long moments.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Did I hurt you?"

"No, Cal," I said as I reached up and pushed his sweaty hair off of his forehead, my fingers lightly running over his tattoo. "It was okay."

He slid out of me and removed the condom, dropping it in the trashcan next to my bed before he laid down next to me. I slid my arm around his shoulder and tucked his head under my chin as I let out a contented sigh. He'd stay for the rest of the night and then we'd go our separate ways again in the morning. It was just his way of doing things and I was okay with that. For now.

"You're really okay, Binkie?" he asked as he ran his finger through my cum as it coated my abs.

"Yeah," I said after I kissed his hair. "I'm fine."


	7. My Redemption

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

_A/N: This is my redemption for causing writer's to melt down in the face of my angst. PLEASE FORGIVE ME DEE AND JUDE!!!_

**My Redemption**

He had taken me out to a quiet, mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant that had some of the spiciest food that had ever hit my tongue. Then, he had taken me to a salsa club where we had a few drinks and got very familiar with each other's bodies. Now, we're standing in front of my apartment door. My hormones are screaming for me to drag him into my apartment and have my way with him. But, my brain is screaming that it's way too fast.

We've been trying the dating thing for the last few weeks with a strict 'No Sex' rule in place by yours truly. After shimmying my ass up and down his rock hard body for the last two hours, I was really re-thinking that rule. It was silly. So what if it didn't last past the morning and my heart was shattered again by this beautiful man. Wouldn't it be worth it for one hot night of incredible, mind blowing sex?

"I had a really great time tonight," he said as he reached out and tucked a stray curl behind my ear.

"I did too," I said as I straightened out his tie.

We were both doing the same thing. Doing just about anything that we could to touch each other. We had been all night.

"So, I guess this is good night."

"I guess so." My heart plummeted.

"I'm free Friday night," he said as his hand came up and caressed the side of my face. "Can we go out again?"

"I'd love to." I stilled his hand on the side of my face with my own.

He stepped a little closer, his chest brushing against my nipples. "I should really go."

I tilted my face up slightly to look into his dark brown eyes. I slowly nodded. "You should go."

His right hand remained on the side of my face as his left hand snuck out and curved around my right hip. The heat from him hand burned through the thin silk of my dress and scorched my skin. My heart rate sped up as he leaned down slightly, his lips just a centimeter away.

"I don't want to go," he whispered, his warm breath caressing my lips.

"Then don't go," I whispered before I went up on my toes and sealed my lips to his.

He groaned as our lips locked together, the desire that we had both been adding fire to all night getting to a combustible level. My keys left my hand and I vaguely heard my door unlock and open. His right hand slid into my hair and tangled with my curls as his left hand came back around my waist.

My feet left the floor as he slid me up his rock hard body. I moaned as I wrapped my legs around his waist and felt how hard he was through his pants. He roughly pinned me to the wall just inside the door so that he could close it and lock up, his pelvis grinding into mine as he held me in place. I rotated my hips the fraction of an inch that I had as I deepened the kiss and he faltered getting the dead bolt closed.

A low growl emanated from his chest as he slid the bolt home. Desire rushed through me as I realized that I was about to be blessed with receiving his full attention.

He broke the kiss and leaned back to look at me with pitch black eyes. His hand slipped from the door and came back up to my face, his thumb slowly skimming across my swollen bottom lip. My lips parted as I gasped when he rocked against me and rubbed his massive erection against my center. His thumb slid into my open mouth and I swirled my tongue around it, mimicking what I've been yearning to do to him all evening.

"Shit," he breathed as I felt him grow even larger.

His left hand slid out from between my back and the wall, gliding softly down my side to slip under my ass. My hand came up and wrapped around his wrist to keep his thumb in my mouth as I gently rocked my hips. A shiver raced up my spine as he used his thumb in my mouth to tilt my head to the side and started nibbling on my neck.

He started high, just below my ear, and slowly worked his way down. A light caress, then a nip. Alternating back and forth until he reached the pulse point. There, he darted his tongue out and drew a circle before he sucked the skin into his mouth, marking me for everyone to see.

I scraped my teeth along his thumb as he slowly pulled it out. His tongue swirled over the sensitive skin that he had just marked before he sunk his teeth into me and rocked his hips. I was going to explode if I didn't get any relief soon.

"Please, Ranger." My voice was low and raspy.

"Please Ranger what?" he whispered against my neck.

"I need to feel you inside me," I pleaded as he started kissing his way back up my neck. I gasped as his tongue came out and caressed the shell of my ear. "Oh, God, Ranger. You can have anything you want. Just give me something."

He stilled. "Anything?"

"Anything," I agreed.

What ever control he had been holding onto broke as that one word came out of my mouth. Fabric ripped and a zipper was jerked down. In one swift thrust, he was so deep inside me that I thought I felt him in my throat. He gave me a brief moment to adjust to his exquisite size before he ever so slowly started sliding back out.

"No, no, no," I whispered as he got to the very tip still inside.

"I can have anything I want?" His voice was raged with strain, his black eyes boring down into mine.

"Anything," I nodded, barely able to speak. "Please, Ranger."

I saw something swim through his eyes just before he slammed back into me. He kept it at a fevered pitch, slamming into me over and over again. I felt the first wave of a Doomsday orgasm ripple up from my toes. My hands fisted into the back of his shirt, the material ripping as my arms jerked.

"Oh, God!" I shouted as my eyes rolled back into my head.

"Fuck." His voice was distant as he emptied myself into me.

I felt like I was flying through the air and then settling down on cool clouds. My eyes opened to an electric smile plastered across his face as he leaned over me. My hips moved as I stretched out and he shuddered as he twitched inside me.

"Can I still have anything, Babe?" he asked as he smoothed my hair back from my face.

I nodded, still unable to speak, as I reached up and skimmed my fingers lightly along the side of his face.

"I want you, Babe," he whispered as he leaned closer, his lips feather light over mine. "I want all of you. Every second of every day for the rest of my life. That's the only thing I've ever wanted."

I blinked, unwilling to put my full faith in his words.

"Please, Babe," he said after he saw the doubt in my eyes. "I promise that I'll never send you away again. Give me the chance to show you just how very much I love you. I'll never disappoint you like that again."

"I won't be able to survive if you leave me again, Ranger," I whispered as my eyes started to burn. "I don't know if I can let you in that far again."

"Then don't," he whispered. "At least not right away. Let me prove that this is the real deal. Please, Babe. Give me a chance to show you what it's like to really be loved by someone."

I could never go against Ranger when he said 'please'. It just wasn't in me to turn him away. I knew that there was a strong possibility that he would crush my heart. But, as I laid on my bed with him staring down into my eyes, the only thing that I could think was that I wanted everything that he was offering.

"Okay."

"Okay?" he asked.

I cupped his face with my hands and said, "I'm yours for every second of every day for the rest of our lives."


	8. That

(None of the characters are mine. Just a quick short that I thought was funny.)

**That**

"_That's your New Year's resolution! What are you thinking_?" Lula shouted at me.

It had honestly seemed like a good idea last night. But, then again, it's not the best idea to make life altering decisions after having a few beers. Okay. Seven beers. And four shots of Vodka. And two margaritas. No wonder my head feels like it's about to fall off. Come to think of it, I think I might even still be drunk.

"Maybe I should re-think this," I finally admitted.

"It's too late now," Lula huffed. "You're stuck with that one."

I suddenly started feeling rather queasy. Lula was right. It was now New Year's day and I had to start going through the steps of my resolution. I'd have to start at my house and purge it. Then, I'd have to get rid of the stash in my car. Getting rid of the hidden treasures in my cubby at the Haywood office might be a little more difficult. But, Lula was right. I was stuck with this resolution until my will power caved.

"You just need to find a replacement," Lula suggested from across the table. "Find something else to fill the void."

"Like what?" I asked around a mouthful of eggs.

"Sex?"

"I'm single."

"Veggies?"

"Not."

"Running?"

"Option number one."

"Okay. Now we're getting somewhere," Lula said as she rubbed her hands together. "How about dancing?"

"Every night?"

"Why not?"

"Option two," I said hesitantly.

Lula leaned back into her side of the booth and seemed to go into a deep thought process. I was thankful for the slight reprieve, given that I had just barely gotten started on the plate in front of me when I dropped my bomb on Lula. Brunch was something that the two of us did together on New Year's Day. It gave us a chance to cure our hangovers together and share how our nights ended. Her's, of course, ending in Tank's arms. And mine, of course, ending alone. The rest of brunch flowed nicely, ending with the two of us going our separate ways.

Later that day…

"What are you doing?"

I looked over my shoulder at Lester and felt my face heat with embarrassment. I had just been caught, by a Merry Man, trying to purge my cubby of my newest enemy. This was absolutely the most embarrassing moment of my life so far. This was worse then rolling in garbage. This was worse then what Joe wrote on bathroom walls. This was worse then driving Big Blue.

"Nothing," I finally said as I closed the bottom drawer of my desk and shoved the brown paper bag behind me.

"What's in the bag?" Lester asked as he tried to peer around me.

I shifted my weight to block his line of sight as I said, "Just trying to clean out my desk."

"Hey, Ram!" Lester called out as he shifted to his other side to try, once again, to look in my bag. "I need your assistance."

"No, no, no," I pleaded. "It's really just trash, Lester."

"Then you won't mind me taking a look," he said as he tried to reach around me.

I slapped his hand away as I brandished my fully charged stun gun. Lester immediately jumped back into the isle and crossed his arms over his chest. I was now dead. I'd have to quit working for Ranger. I'd have to move to another city. I'd have to change my name and dye my hair blonde. I'd never have my mother's pine-apple upside down cake again.

"What's up?" Ram asked as he stopped next to Lester.

"Bomber, here, is hiding something," Lester said as he grinned down at me. "Something big. Something embarrassing."

"She's armed," Ram pointed out.

I watched as they looked at each other and did some silent communication. Wide grins broke across their lips at the same time and my heart sunk in my chest. This was not going to end well.

"Binkie!" Lester shouted. "I need your assistance."

"Hal!" Ram shouted. "Come here."

In a mater of seconds, there were four large men standing just outside my cubby. They were all silently communicating to each other. After a minute, Hal's face fell as he looked down at the stun gun in my hand. NO! I couldn't take stunning Hal again. He was just so damn nice. Would he really fall on another stun gun to find out what I had?

Long seconds later, I had my answer.

Everything happen quickly. Hal jumped into my cubby, startling me into action and stunning him with a fully juiced gun. Horror washed over my face as he tensed and then fell to the floor at my feet, his head hitting the corner of my desk as he went down. My stomach flipped as I saw a small, dark red line form across Hal's forehead as he lay unconscious on the floor.

All thoughts of the secret that I was protecting washed out of my head. I ducked under the three large men that lunged at me and dropped to the floor next to Hal's head. Pulling out my cell and some tissue from my pocket, I called Bobby as I applied pressure to Hal's now profusely bleeding forehead.

"Was it fucking worth it?" I shouted once I closed my phone after a brief conversation with Bobby.

I glared up at the three men taking up space in my cubby. They all have pieces of my enemy in their hands.

"Hal got hurt because you guys couldn't back off!" I shouted. I pointed up at the offending articles in their hands and shouted. "All for a bunch of male porn magazines!"


	9. The Love Game

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters; I'm just playing with them.

**The Love Game**

The door to his apartment was open as I stepped off the elevator. The brief memory of his demand this afternoon for Pino's for dinner floated forward, so I stopped at his door and stuck my head in.

"We still on for Pino's?" I called out towards the bedroom after seeing that he wasn't in the kitchen or living room.

The lack of response forced me further into his apartment. Only then did I hear the shower running in the other room. My curiosity got to me and I started snooping around his apartment. It wasn't often that I was actually in one of the guys' apartments. They usually flocked over to mine at the end of the day.

The CD and DVD towers on either side of the large plasma TV caught my eye immediately. I made my way over to see what he liked. Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Alice In Chains. Wait! What? ABBA? Now that was a shocker.

With a grin on my lips, I made my way over to the other side to see what he was hiding in the movie section. Die Hard, Volcano, Transporter. Gah! Waiting To Exhale? This was seriously not right. Something was definitely wrong for him to have a movie like this. Had he been spending too much time with me and my sensitive nature was rubbing off on him? God, I hope not.

Feeling slightly freaked, I decided that maybe it'd be better to check out some of the pictures on the walls. He had a few tasteful oil paintings of landscapes that I had previously caught sight of on the few occasions I had been in here. What I really wanted to see were the three large frames that had mats to hold pictures in groupings.

The first were pictures of what I assumed were his family. Everyone grinning at different functions and having a great time. The next was pictures of all the guys. It looked like mostly pictures from company parties, but there were a few shots from jobs where they were goofing around. I grinned when I saw Tank dressed up like a mummy for Halloween.

My feet shuffled my body over slightly to the next frame and my breath caught in my throat. They were all pictures of the two of us together. At distractions, goofing around in the office, hanging out in my apartment, eating at Shorty's. In every picture, he was grinning at me. I stared at the picture in the bottom corner. He had his right arm around my waist and I was snuggled into his side hugging him back. His face was soft and a small smile tilted up his lips. Both of our eyes were closed and, for that brief moment in time, it looked like a picture of a content couple.

A couple? Where in the heck did that thought come from? There was no way that he felt... But all these pictures.... No. He doesn't feel this way... They're just pictures of two... God. There are so many pictures of the two of us.

My eyes trailed over to a small credenza that sat under the living room window. Frames sat on a white doily on both ends. I moved over to get a better look of the pictures to forget about the large frame. Only once I got close enough, I realized they were more of us. A few of them had been blown up for bigger frames, but they were all just like the others. A happy couple.

I heard the shower turn off and I felt a rush of need to flee. But my feet refused to move. My hand reached out, picking up a frame and bringing it up for a closer inspection. I was dressed up for a distraction and we were goofing around in the control room. I remembered that night. He had played my boyfriend and we fought in a bar to get the skips attention. I even remembered saying how great he looked out of uniform.

My eyes rolled in my head at myself. Who was I kidding? He looked great no matter what he was wearing. He'd make a burlap bag look like Abercrombie and Fitch.

I reached out behind myself and felt for the chair, lowering myself down without looking away from the frame in my hands. He doesn't really have feelings for me, does he? Of course he does. All the guys love me like a sister. Surely that's why he has all these pictures of the two of us. I have pictures of all the guys in my apartment down the hall.

My eyes trailed from the picture in my hand to the frame on the wall. But I don't have frames with pictures like these. Pictures of me looking happy like these pictures show.

My eyes misted over. He does make me happy. He's the first to be at my back and the only one that makes me laugh when I feel down. He doesn't care that I roll around in garbage and he thinks that salad is rabbit food, too. We like the same music and usually agree on the same movies.

A sigh escaped my lips as I looked back down at the picture in my hands, my fingers lightly tracing over his face. Could it really be that simple? Could the man that I've been waiting my whole life for really have been sitting right in front of me this whole time?

"Yes."

My body jerked in surprise at the sound of a deep voice coming from the other side of the room. I raised my head up slowly and our eyes locked. His face was guarded, but his eyes held fear. Fear of rejection? Fear because I had found out that he had feelings for me? Fear that this was going to destroy our friendship?

"Why didn't you tell me?" My voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

He shrugged. "You've always been with someone. I thought you were happy and that you deserved a shot at a normal life."

"How could I possibly ever have a normal life?" I asked, a laugh in my voice. "I'm a freaking walking time bomb. Nothing about me will ever be normal."

"I know that," he said quietly as he started walking over to me. "But I thought you should have the chance."

I looked at the frame on the wall and then the pictures by the window. "Where you ever going to tell me how you felt?"

"I was going to tonight," he said as he knelt down in front of me. His hands came up and turned my face back towards his. "I love you and I want you in my life. Can you give me a chance to try to make you happy?"

My eyes teared up. "You already make me happy."

He grinned. "Then let me love you. And, maybe, you could love me back."

I reached up and caressed the side of his cheek. My fingers slide over his smooth skin and a tingling sensation started in my stomach. Not butterflies. It was warm and comfortable. Just like he had always been to me.

I smiled back at him. "I already do, Bobby."

A smile lit up his face before he leaned forward and captured my lips. His lips were warm and soft. The kiss held heat and relief. A moan escaped his throat as his hands slid back into my hair and he deepened the kiss by thrusting his tongue in my mouth.

As he kissed me, I realized that I really had found the one for me. It was time for me to stop watching the 'Love Game' and start playing it.

Stupid Stephanie's voice rang clear and true in my head. _**GAME ON!**_


	10. The Toilet Paper Roll

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

_A/N: I only have Mud and Paula to blame this on. And it's only a remote blame that can be placed. You may need bleach after reading this. You have been warned!_

**Toilet Paper Rolls**

I walked into the house and groaned. The bathroom door had been left open again and there was toilet paper all over the place. This is the absolute last time that I agree to take Bob while Joe's out of town on an assignment, I vowed silently. The bad dog in question was sprawled out on my bed, belly exposed and… EEEWWWWW! His thingie was pointed out!

"Bob!" I shouted hysterically. "Get off my bed! I thought you couldn't do that! EW! EW! EW!"

His head came up to look at me. They were a little glazed over. He groaned as his eyes rolled back into his head. I walked over to the bed to grab his collar and pull him off. That's when I saw it.

"What the hell is that?" I said as I leaned over. I immediately straightened and jumped back. "That is so gross Bob! A fucking toilet paper roll? Why did you have to turn weird while Joe was out of town? This is too gross for me."

He whimpered and wiggled on the bed. He looked like he's in pain. I wonder if Bobby knows anything about dogs. I waved away the thought as I went into my bathroom. I tried to mentally prepare myself as I grabbed a few latex gloves from under the sink.

"I can't believe that I have to do this shit," I said as I slid the gloves on and walked out of the bathroom. "Joe is going to board you next time. I can't deal with a gay dog and my life at the same time."

I walked over to Bob and reached down to pull the roll out of his asshole. What I saw then as I leaned down stole my breath. I jumped up and started running out of my apartment. I got all the way down to the parking lot before I started thinking clearly. This was so beyond my mental capacity.

I fumbled with my cell phone, finally getting it open and using the speed dial. The line picked up and I screamed, "You have to get over here right now!"

"What's wrong, Babe?" His voice was tight and concerned.

"It's too horrifying to explain!" I kept shouting. "Just get over to my apartment right now!"

In my excitement, and the overwhelming feeling of needing a lot of bleach, I snapped my phone closed and threw it away from myself. I was definitely going to need a trip to Costco. They sell bleach by the truck loads, right? What if it's too late and I need a new bed? Oh, God! Why does this stuff always happen to me?

You know that dance you do when you get a really gross mental picture? Or when you see Richard Simmons work out? The one where you shake your arms and you legs and jump around? I was still doing that dance when Ranger screeched to a halt in front of my apartment building.

"What's wrong, Babe?" He shouted over my whimpering as he grabbed my arms to stop my movement.

"My apartment," I whispered as I pointed up weakly.

He flew away, pulling out one of his guns as he went. My super hero. I waited for about thirty seconds and then he came flying back out. He was actually white if you could ever call his skin that color. I had gotten control over myself and I could tell that he was about to lose his.

"Babe."

"Do you need bleach, too?" I asked as I slowly inched closer to him.

"Bleach won't be enough," he sighed after a shiver racked his whole body.

"I think maybe Bob got lonely," I said after a minute.

"Then get him another dog before this happens again," Ranger hissed as he pulled out his cell phone. Then he muttered to himself, "Who in the hell can I call to take care of this?"

"Ranger," I said with a sigh, "_the_ _opposite of loneliness is not togetherness. It's intimacy._"

"You can't tell me that you are condoning Bob letting Rex crawl up his ass!" Incredulous Ranger. Huh. "It's like Richard Geer all over again!"

"I'm not condoning it!" I shivered at the memory of seeing Rex's whiskers peeking out from the toilet paper roll. "I'm just correcting your statement."

"I'm going to call Lester to deal with this," Ranger said as he started hitting button on his phone. "He was saying something this morning about not getting an action lately. This should be enough action to sustain him for awhile. And then, I'm taking you back to my apartment so that you can explain this intimacy thing to me. In detail."

His eyes had locked with mine as he talked and I watched then darken. Bob? Rex? What? Oh, Boy!


	11. Therapy 101

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters and the person in this fic really isn't dead.

**Therapy 101**

My stomach did a little summersault when I noticed that the door was slightly ajar. As my pace going up the front walk way slowed, my eyes flitted up to the numbers on the front of the brick row house to verify that I had the right address. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Lula was no longer behind me on the walkway, but back down at the street. I stopped just at the bottom of the three stairs that led up to the door and waited.

"He's all yours, Whitey," Lula said.

I turned back around to look at her and found her standing on the other side of her car, out in the street.

"Just remember that if you go in the house, you aren't getting back in my car," Lula said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why not?" I asked as my hands automatically flew up to my hips.

"Death Cooties."

"You only get death cooties if you touch the body," I said with an eye roll.

"They migrate," Lula said, with a look that said that I should have known that.

"If your 'migration' theory is right, then you've already been contaminated," I said. "The door is open. The cooties would have gotten out here and been all over the walkway."

I watched Lula shrink four inches.

"It's too late," I said shaking my head. "They would have already 'migrated' up your leg. By now you and I are both covered in death cooties."

"You say that death cooties are only caught by touching?" Lula asked after she thought over my reasoning for a minute.

"That's what I've been told."

"Then I suggest you keep your hands to yourself when you go in that house," Lula said with a shooing motion as she grew four inches taller. "If you touch him, I won't wait around for the pigs."

I sighed and shook my head as I turned back to the door. I walked up the three steps and held my breath as I strained my ears to listen for any noises in the house.

"What are you doing?" Lula called out.

"I'm listening for people in the house," I shouted over my shoulder.

"Well, hurry up!"

"Mr. Sutherland? It's Stephanie Plum!" I shouted as I knocked on the door. "We spoke on the phone this morning!"

The door eased open as my knuckles hit the door a second time. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dimness of the interior of the house. There was just no mistaking the fluttering feeling in my gut. This was very wrong.

"What do you see? I know you see something! What is it?" Lula shouted anxiously from the street.

"Nothing!" I shouted back. "I can't see anything!"

"Well, get in there and look around!"

I took a step in and leaned further into the house, looking into the living room that sat on the right. I could see that there was someone sitting in the recliner that faced the TV. I'd have to go further into the living room to get a good look at who ever was sitting in the chair. But, my legs were having none of that at this very moment.

"What?" Lula shouted from the street.

"I can see someone in the recliner!" I shouted back.

"Would you just get in there and see if he's dead?" Lula shouted as she flailed her arms.

"If you're so interested then why don't you come in here and look?" I continued shouting, angry that she was pushing me to do this on my own.

"Na uh. No way. Not gonna happen," Lula said as she crossed her arms back over her expansive chest.

"Then just give me a minute!" I snapped as I glared at her.

I love Lula. I really do. She's had my back for a while now and I'm not sure if I'd be able to get half of the skips that I've drug in without her. We are a team until it comes to dead bodies. This has become strictly my department and I'm not impressed by this one bit.

I turned back into the house and took a deep breath as I took a step into the living room. I leaned over to my right to see around the back of the chair. Losing my balance, I fell forward and crashed to the floor. My eyes swung up to the chair and looked at the man in that was sitting there. It was my skip, Keiffer Sutherland, with half of his face blown off. A Smith and Wesson .38 loosely held in his hand.

"Well?" Lula shouted from the street.

"My skip is dead!" I screamed as I scrambled to my feet and raced to the front entry way. "Another one!"

I whipped out my phone and dialed 9-1-1. I'm 'off' with Joe at the moment and I didn't think that he would be calmed down enough from the fight that we had three nights ago to deal with this. It only would have reaffirmed that his girlfriend has a 'messed up life'. Though, I do have to give myself some credit. This is the first body that I've found in six months.

"Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?" a female voice said from the other end of my phone.

"I've found a dead body," I said as I tried to even out my breathing.

"May I have your location?"

"2902 North Hayden Street."

"I'm sending someone out immediately," the woman said. "Please hold while I transfer you over to the medical department."

This is going to be fun, I thought to myself. He doesn't need a doctor. He needs a coroner.

"Medical department. Please start your emergency," a male voice said over the line.

"I found a dead body," I said as I leaned over when a wave of nausea hit me. It's a good thing that his entry way was wood laminate. I hate vomiting on carpet.

"Have you checked his pulse?"

"No," I said shaking my head.

"Could you please do that?"

"Are you kidding?" I screeched. "I'm not touching a dead guy!"

"Please, Miss," the male voice said. "Are you completely sure that the man is dead?"

"Half of his head is gone!" I shouted. "I'm pretty sure that he's dead."

"But, not one hundred percent, Miss?"

"About as one hundred percent as I'm going to get."

"It's possible that the man may still have a heart beat and be missing half of his head," the man said. "If he still has a heart beat then you could administer life saving procedures."

"What planet do you live on where people that are missing half of their head can still be alive? I'm not going back in there," I said as I slowly stared backing out of the house. "No way."

"This could be life or death, Miss."

"Then you better hurry up and get the paramedics here," I said as I stumbled down the stairs. "Cause if he ain't dead, then he's getting there quickly."

"Alright," he said on a sigh. "An ambulance is on its way."

I closed my phone and backed my way down the walk way. When I got out to the street, I noticed that there was no longer a red Firebird sitting at the curb. Lula ditched me, again. Not that I can totally blame her. The cops give her the runs. It's a little something left over from her previous life as a ho.

_I'm out of milk_.

I walked out to the curb and sat down. It's part of my usual routine. I wouldn't want to upset the balance and do something that would prevent me from getting over this as quickly as possible. I now knew what to expect after finding a dead body. Most of the time, I can just push it out of my mind and not really think about it until I get home. That's were I let everything out and cry for the man that's dead inside.

_Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you?_

I gave Carl and Big Dog a small smile as I watched Carl hand Big Dog a wad of cash. I momentarily felt bad for Carl losing money on me, we had been friends since kindergarten. The moment was fleeting since Big Dog handed me a fifty as he walked passed. The smile that had grown attached to my face as I looked down at the fifty in my hand dissolved when I heard a familiar voice.

"I should have known that you'd be mixed up in this, Cupcake."

"It honestly wasn't my fault, Joe," I said with conviction as I looked up and glared. "I'm not armed."

The glare was lost on him as he moved passed me and walked up to the house. I heard him talk things over with Carl and Big Dog before he walked back over to me. I looked up at him from my seat on the curb and waited for the grilling to begin.

"The house was open when you got here?" Joe asked as he flipped open a pad of paper.

"Yep," I said with a shake of my head. "Mr. Sutherland was FTA. I had called him this morning and arranged to meet him here at eleven to take him in to get rescheduled."

"Did you see anyone leave the house as you pulled up?"

"No."

"Any suspicious people walking around?"

"No."

"Any suspicious vehicles?"

"No."

"Well," Joe said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "You're just a fountain of information, aren't you?"

"Not that it matters that much. The guy killed himself. Besides, I do my best to be aware of my surroundings," I said as I felt a familiar tingle on the back of my neck. "Isn't that right, Ranger?"

"Getting better and better everyday," Ranger said as he walked over from his Porsche, 200 watt smile plastered across his face.

"Manoso," Joe said with a head nod.

"Morelli," Ranger said with the same head nod.

The two men in my life continued to have a conversation over the number of dead bodies I've run across since I became a bounty hunter. It's not something that happens to me every day. But, it's happened enough that the local boys in blue have a pool going on it. I'm pretty sure that Ranger's Merry Men may have a pool on that, too. I watched the meat wagon pull up as I half listened to the two men banter back and forth.

_Rex needs more pellets._

I gave a full statement to Big Dog and was rewarded with a hard bear hug from the large man in blue. After that I was free to go about my day. I hitched a ride with Ranger over to the bonds office to pick up my CRV that I had left sitting out front this morning. It was left abandoned because Lula had sighted that my yellow SUV clashed with her red outfit. Whatever.

After spending a very silent fifteen minutes with Ranger in his Porsche, the music that blared out of the speakers in my vehicle was a welcoming sound. I sang along with Maroon 5 as I drove back to my apartment. Seeing a dead body pretty much ruins the rest of my day. At least that's my excuse for heading home at noon.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I cleaned my kitchen and living room, watched Ghost busters, went to my parents house for dinner, and hit up the store on my way home. But, the break down that had always come, never came. It's never been something that I've been able to force myself into doing. It just happens.

It wasn't until I had crawled into bed at ten that I started having problems. I tossed and turned, finally giving up at midnight. I flipped the light on in my room and took a good look around for something to do. I finally found it when my eyes fell on a sketch pad that was laying in the chair in the corner. I had taken a few art classes in college. It was one of the only things from college that I still play with.

Grabbing the pad and the package of pencils that sat on top, I situated myself back on my bed and started drawling. Simple things at first. The chair in the corner. My dresser. The corner of my room that has the door that goes down the hall and the door to my bathroom. A sock laying on the floor. Then I moved on to plain scenery. Mountains and trees. Birds flying across a cloudy sky. After that, I zoned out and just let my hand do whatever.

"What are you doing?"

I had been so consumed in my current drawing that I never heard anyone enter my apartment. My head snapped up and swung to the door as I jumped out of my skin. The pair of green eyes that mine locked with were laughing.

"You scared the crap out of me, Lester," I said as I brought my hand up to make sure that my heart was still in my chest. "Make some freaking noise."

"I called out for you when I got your door open," he said as he crossed my room and sat down on my bed next to me. "Why are you drawing at two in the morning?"

"Can't sleep," I murmured as I looked back down at my sketch pad. I felt the backs of my eyes start to burn as they wandered over the drawing in my lap.

"Is that the guy?" Lester asked softly as he pulled the pad out of my lap. "This is how you found him?"

I hadn't even realized that I had drawn Sutherland sitting in his chair. I had even gone so far as and to draw part of the couch that was next to his chair and the coffee table in front of it. I didn't realize I'd even noticed those details at the time, but the picture was a perfect replica of the image from earlier that day. The image that had driven sleep away. I watched as Lester flipped the page over to see what the previous picture had been. It was the mug shot of Sutherland that had been in his file that Connie had given me that morning.

"Therapy?" he asked as he handed the pad back to me.

"I'm not sure," I said with a half shrug. "I've never felt like this before."

"How do you feel?" he asked as he turned his body sideways to look at me better.

"Anxious," I whispered as I looked down at the drawing of a dead man.

_I need to do laundry._

"Has this happened before?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "I have a routine. I just hold everything in until I get home and then I cry it all out. But, today, I couldn't cry."

"Why do you think that today is different?"

"I'm not sure," I said, still looking down at the drawing. "I feel disjointed."

_Tank's birthday is next week. I need to find him a present._

I ran my fingers over Sutherland's head as I said, "Why would someone want to take their own life?"

"Sometimes people do it because they don't see any other way out," Lester offered.

"I could have helped him," I said as I held up the drawing of Sutherland and I looked up at Lester. I suddenly felt angry, like I needed to lash out at someone. "He was a decent guy that had fallen on hard times. He was arrested for stealing a package of diapers for the single mom that lives next door to him. I just don't understand what happened."

"Relax, Steph," Lester said as he reached out and took my hand in his, sensing my agitation. "Sometimes people do things that we may never understand."

"He knew I was coming," I whispered, my vision blurring as I looked up at Lester. "He knew I would find him. How could he have done that?"

"I don't know," he whispered as he pulled me into his arms. "We may never know."

_Drinks with the girls Thursday night._

"He wasn't even wearing pants," I sobbed into his chest. "Why wasn't he wearing pants?"

"That's it, Sweetie," Lester whispered in my ear. "Just let it all out."

I felt everything flow out of me as I clung to Lester, my chest tightening as I sobbed. I slammed my eyes shut and all I could see was Sutherland sitting in his living room chair, with his white button down shirt and navy blue boxers. My heart shattered into a million pieces as I thought about all of the things that he'd never be able to do. Get married. Have children. Go to the beach. Have a beer at the ball park. He would never be able to experience those things again. The pain that shot through me was more intense than I had ever felt in my life. It felt like someone had placed my heart in a vise. How could he have given up the rest of his life? I wanted someone to tell me that it never happened. I wanted to go into the office and do my day over again. I wanted to go to Sutherland's house and yell at him for doing this. I wanted to stop him from taking his own life. I wanted all of the pain to stop.

My sobs finally subsided into hiccups as all of my energy drained out of my body. I felt Lester shift and I tightened my grip around his waist. I wasn't ready to be alone. I needed him like I had never needed anyone before. His grip on me tightened as he laid us down on the bed. I faintly heard him say that he wasn't leaving as I drifted off into the darkness that was surrounding me.

I pried my eyes open and tried to smile at the man that was beaming down at me. It was really hard to be happy when I was this tired. He kissed my forehead as he rolled me off of him and slipped out of bed. I buried my head under my pillow and listened as he walked into the bathroom and peed with the door open. A comforting feeling settled over me at the thought that he was that comfortable with me.

"I've gotta head into work," he said after he pulled the pillow off of my head. "Are you going to be okay?"

I held up my hand and gave him a thumbs up.

"What are you doing today?" he asked as he sat on the edge of my bed and pulled his boots on.

"Going after skips," I said as I turned my head to look at him.

"Okay," he said as he stood up. He bent over and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "I'll meet you back here at six."

I watched him walk out of my room with a confused look on my face. I heard him walk out my apartment door and then the familiar sound of the dead bolt sliding into place. A small smile formed on my lips as I realized that he'd be back. Tonight and every night after that until I was over yesterday. And I knew that I'd be okay because he was going to be there for me every night until I was okay. That's just the way that Lester is. He's one of my best friends and I should have known that he'd be here for me.

I rolled over to the side of my bed and looked down at the pad of paper that sat on the floor. It was open to my drawing of Sutherland sitting in his chair. I reached out and grabbed the pad from the floor as I rolled back over onto my back. I traced my fingers over his face and felt my eyes start to burn with fresh tears.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered as my fingers traced over his face. "I hope that you've found peace."

_**The End.**_

_**A/N: This was written shortly after I had an extremely terrible day at work, as some of you already know. I had the unfortunate luck of finding a dead body at the hotel that I work at. He had kicked himself with a .38, laying in his bed, with no pants on. I still can't go into that specific room. But, on a brighter note, I no longer see him in every room that I walk into. Time heals all. -Kate Manoso**_


	12. Transformers Unite

Disclaimer: I own nothing and I'm not making any money.

**Transformers Unite**

"Whatever you say, Ratchet," I said as I readjusted my arm in the sling around my shoulder.

My gut twinged as it plummeted when I realized what I had just called Bobby. I looked up to see if he had caught it and saw that his brows had furrowed together as he looked back down at me. Crapity, crap, crap, crap. He had heard me loud and clear.

"Ratchet?" he asked warily. "Is that a suppose to be a nick name or something."

"Let's go with the 'or something' and leave it at that," I said. Then I tried for a conversation change as I said, "When can I get back to work?"

"One week of leave," he said as he turned back to the x-ray that hung over the light board. "You should be back to work at 100% in about six weeks with some physical therapy. But, that won't get you out of an explanation."

"An explanation?" I asked as I jumped off of the gurney.

"Ratchet?" he said as he turned and looked back at me.

I didn't miss that he had also moved slightly to his right and placed himself between me and the door. I was now trapped by someone that I knew to be able to get information from anyone. He even got Ranger to spill his last mission and no one can do that. I took a couple of steps back from Bobby to re-assess the situation. It was hopeless.

He leered at me as he took a step closer to me and said, "Tell me."

"No," I said as I took a step back. "You're gonna laugh at me and then tell the guys."

"I'm offended," he said with a fake offended expression. "I'd never laugh at you or tell the guys something that you told me in confidence. Remember, I'm your doctor."

"That doesn't fly with me, Brown," I said as my eyes narrowed. "I know that you are a blabber mouth."

"I am not," he pouted.

To my defense, I have pain killers coursing through my system. It's the only thing that I can say to justify what came out of my mouth next. Well, that, and the pouty face Bobby was giving me. Damn his big lips and large brown eyes. He was so going to pay for this. Once I'm better, that is.

"Last week I was forced to watch Mary Lou's kids while she went out with Lenny," I said as I started my explanation.

"Yeah," he smirked. "I remember getting a call from you to come untie you from the living room chair."

"Yeah," I said with a cringe as the image popped back in my head. "Anyway. The boys and I watched _Transformers_ that night and everything fell into place."

Bobby waved his hand for me to continue after I fell silent.

My head fell forward as I sighed heavily. This was beyond embarrassing and Bobby was that big of an ass to make me keep going.

"Ranger is Optimus Prime. Tank is Jazz. Cal is Iron Hide. Lester is Bumble Bee. And you are Ratchet," I said as quickly as possible.

The silence that filled the room was unbearable. I stood there holding my breath as I waited for Bobby to start laughing. When the black dots started making an appearance, I finally released my breath and sucked another one in as I looked up at Bobby. He was grinning at me like a fool.

"What?" I whispered.

"That is so freaking cool," he said still grinning.

"What?" I said a little louder, astonished.

"Transformers kick ass!" Bobby said as he laughed. "I wanted to be one when I was a kid. I had all of their little cars."

I can't believe it. He actually doesn't think I'm crazy. I've just discovered that Bobby is my new favorite Merry Man. As long as he can keep this quiet though.

With out warning, Bobby pumped his fists in that air as he shouted, "Transformers Unite!"

In the blink on an eye, he was out the door, running down the hall. Crap! I'm never going to hear the end of this one. I just barely got back up to the fifth floor as I heard Bobby tell Cal the whole thing. My face heated up as Cal looked over at me.

"From now on, I want everyone to call me Iron Hide," Cal said as his eyes lit up with glee. "This is going to be so fucking cool."

"We need to go find Optimus," Bobby said as he turned to run towards Ranger's office.

"Freeze," I said, trying desperately to get control before all hell broke loose. I pulled out the only card that I had. "I know what the two of you did."

They both froze and turned back to look at me.

"I know about the thing with the thing at the thing last weekend," I said quietly, adding a menacing smile.

Relief flooded through me as they both paled and lost their gleeful smiles.

"How do you know?" Bobby asked as he rushed over to me. "No one's suppose to know."

"I always know," I said with a smile.

"She knows," Bobby said as he looked back over at Cal.

"Now, both of you listen," I said as Cal came over to us. "If this gets out, I'll tell everyone who will listen about last weekend."

"Who's going to believe you?" Cal said with a wave of his hand. "It'd be your word against ours."

"I have pictures," I said, lying all of my cards on the table.

"But… but… but…" Bobby stammered.

"No worries, Guys," I said as I patted Bobby on the shoulder. "My secret goes to the grave if your secret goes to the grave."

"Deal," Bobby said as he held out his hand.

We all shook hands before the guys went back to work and I went to look for a ride. I guess I'd have to figure out what the thing with the thing at the thing last weekend was. Just in case they both asked questions later.


	13. What You Get

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters.

**What You Get**

"**What you see is what you get**."

That was as straight forward as I had ever been in my life. I stood in the middle of the garage of RangeMan with my arms held out away from my body so that he could see the extent of my day. There was a rip in the knee of my jeans from when I tackled my first skip of the day to the ground. Chinese noodles and some funky smelling brown sauce were all over my clothes and in my hair. The whole right side of my face ached and my eye was starting to swell shut.

His lips tilted up. "Rough day?"

"I'm not joking around here." My voice was low and serious. "This is me. I'm a fucking mess and that'll never change. I roll around in garbage and have bruises on top of bruises."

"This isn't news to me." His lips flattened out into a thin line as he stared at me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm tired," I admitted. "I'm really fucking tired. I'm tired of getting up every morning alone. I'm tired of coming home to an empty apartment. I'm tired of you sneaking in at midnight and leaving again before the sun comes up. I'm tired doing this dance with you."

He opened his mouth to say something, but I just plowed on. "I can't keep living this way. I won't live with only having part of you in my life. I don't care that there are twenty guys up in the control room listening in as I pour my heart out to you. I don't care because I love you. If you can't give me more than what we have now, then you need to walk the fuck away."

My tirade finally ended and I lowered my arms to my side to stop them from waving around. Silence filled the garage as we stood there and stared at each other. His eyes stared deep into mine and I couldn't get a read on him. I could always get a little something from his blank face. But this was beyond blank. He was shut down and I didn't know how to react to that.

I sighed and closed my eyes, my head falling forward, after ten minutes had passed. "It's okay to walk away. You're still going to be my best friend and nothing will have changed. Well, you just won't be able to hop into my bed anymore."

My head finally raised and I looked into his eyes. "If you can't tell me that you love me and give me more, something to hold on to, then just go."

"I can't." His voice was strained like he was in pain.

I opened my mouth but he waved his hand to silence me.

"I can't walk away because I love you more than the air I breath." Now there was conviction in his voice that was drowning out the pain. "I've never given you more because I honestly didn't think that you wanted me as much as I want you. I seriously thought that this was just going to be a short lived fling."

His hand came up to rub the back of his neck and I waited while he gathered more words.

"I know that this wasn't easy for you to do," he said quietly. "You look like you've had a terrible day and, because of me, you have added stress. This would have been one of the days that I would have shown up at your apartment at eight and crawled into bed with you just so that I could hold you and know that you were okay."

He sighed and closed his eyes. For a moment, I thought that he was about to change his direction of thinking and walk away because my life really was too much to handle.

When he opened his eyes and looked at me, he said, "It took me a little bit to figure out how I was suppose to handle a day like this. You're going to have to give me some time to readjust and figure out a new pattern."

My jaw dropped open.

"Did you really think that I would just walk away from you?" His head tilted to the side and a confused expression crossed his face.

My mouth snapped shut and I gave a half shrug.

He grinned as he walked up to me. "Any man would have to be insane to not want to be with you."

"I'm starting to think that you might be insane for wanting to stay with me," I said with a small grin.

He reached his hands up, his left picking a noodle out of my hair and his right curled around my neck to pull me closer. My hands came up to his hips and my fingers hooked into his belt loops. I felt my body temperature rise as he got closer.

"I love you," he whispered as he tilted my head back to look up at him.

His lips were a breath away from mine and he just hovered there, waiting. My tongue snuck out and lightly traced his lips, a small gasp escaped his mouth and sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew what he was waiting for and I finally gave in saying, "I love you, too, Bones."


	14. Twisted

Disclaimer: JE owns the characters. The smut muse ran amuck! You have been warned. TART!****

Twisted

Six months. He had been by my side almost everyday for the last six months. So it shouldnt be any different that he was here with me tonight. It was just sort of expected on my part.

The smile that twitched at the corners of his lips as he slid my virgin strawberry daiquiri on the bar. The swiftness that he displayed as he jumped over the high top to tackle the skip to the ground after he stuck me. The care that he showed as he lightly held an ice pack to my left cheek.

'You got her?' Rangers voice was wary.

'Yeah.' The single, tight word vibrated through his chest.

Steering me through the club in the comfortable cocoon of his arms, he brought me out a side exit and led me to his truck. Once he had the drivers side door open, he hefted me up and slide me along the bench seat to the middle. As soon as he was seated and had the truck in gear, his arm came around my shoulders and pulled me into his side.

The streets were deserted at two in the morning, only three cars passing by as we made our way back to Haywood. The ride was silent and gave me time to replay the take down. No one was at fault. The skip had recognized me. Maybe it was time to hang up the high heels and slutty clothes. Being recognized was going to happen sooner or later. I was lucky that I walked away with just a bruised cheek. If the skip had been armed at the time...

The garage was empty as we pulled in. Cool air caressed my heated skin as he climbed out and offered a hand to help me down. His hand stayed in mine as he walked me over to the elevator, corralling me in as the doors opened. The air around us changed as he backed me into the wall next to the panel and pushed the button for the fourth floor. The muscles in the body that lightly lined up to mine started to soften, tension slowly leaking out of his body as the elevator rose.

He moved away as the doors dinged open, still keeping my hand as he started walking through the doors. Gently pulling me closer to him, he opened the door to my apartment and guided me in. The cool darkness enclosed us as the door closed out the light from the hallway.

Two strong arms wrapped around me as he breath breezed passed my ear. 'I just need a minute.'

My body melted into his as I excepted the warmth that he was showing. Being his partner for the last six months had opened my eyes to the man that he kept locked away. He was sweet, sentimental, soft, intelligent. Of course if I ever said that, he'd kill me. But, I liked it. A lot. More than I should without a doubt.

He finally reached over and turned the kitchen light on. We moved through the apartment silently, me going to the bathroom to change and him over to the couch to sit down. The routine was automatic, neither one of us actually thinking about it as we went about our business.

As I walked back out of the bathroom in a tank top and a pair of yoga pants, he waved me over and pulled me down onto the couch. He placed the forgotten ice pack back on my cheek as he pulled me closer. My arms went around him as I leaned my head on his chest.

The silence around us was completely comfortable, but there was a hesitation about it. Like he was waiting for the right moment to say something and wondering if that moment was ever going to come. The minutes ticked by and his muscles started softening under my hands again. He shifted around so that he was in the corner on the couch and I pulled my legs up so that they laid across his lap.

Thats when he completely relaxed and opened up. 'Tomorrow morning I'm requesting that I be reassigned to a new partner and not be on the same case as you.'

My heart plummeted and I was thankful that he couldn't see my face. The guys often changed partners to keep the trust up, but I had never had someone request to _not_ be with me. My chest tightened under the despair. He had been a great partner, we got along so well. I truly didn't think that anything was wrong.

My voice was barely above a whisper. 'Why?'

'Because my heart can't take it,' he whispered as he brushed a kiss over my hair.

Shock had me bolting up right as my face swiveled in his direction. His body followed mine as he sat all the way up. My hand flew to his chest as his arms tightened like vises around my waist. Resistance was futile once my eyes met his. The light brown irises softened and pleaded for understanding.

'Why are you doing this?' I whispered as I stared up at him. 'I thought we were good together.'

'We're too good together,' he whispered as he leaned forward slightly. 'That's just it, Steph. That guy slapped you tonight and I lost it. It's not safe for me to love you this much and be on the job with you. I was prepared to kill that guy, I wanted to kill that guy. I'm so fucking twisted over you that I can't think right.'

Love me? Is that really what he said? Or just what I wanted him to say? Shit. And I wanted him to say it. And mean it. Damn it! When did all these feeling start popping up out of nowhere?

'I know that things have been fucked up for you in the past.' He plowed right on. 'But I'm not like the guys that you've been with. I want you to do what makes you happy. I can see the light in your eyes when you get a new file and go after the bad guy. I won't ask you to give that up. I'm just asking that you not work with me. I can't be held responsible for my actions if I see another guy hit you.'

And there's that sweet side, the underbelly of the beast that longed to be stroked.

'I want to put bandaids on your cuts and kiss your bruises,' he whispered. 'I want to be your safe harbor like you are mine.'

My finger came up to cover his lips. His eyes were bright with a single emotion. Love. There wasn't a single doubt to it. He loved me and that's all there is to it.

My voice cracked. 'Just tell me that you love me so that I can say it back.'

'I love you,' he whispered through my fingers.

'I love you.'

He slowly pulled my hand down as he moved me closer. My lips met his, just a light caress of soft skin. Desire coursed through my body as his hand skimmed up my back and tangled in my hair. I tilted my head to the side as my lips parted, my tongue sliding out and tracing the seam of his lips.

He groaned as his fingers fisted in my hair, his tongue gliding across mine as it swept into my mouth. My hands slid up his chest and along his neck, grabbing on and pulling him closer as heat coursed through my body. The need to get naked was growing like a wildfire.

My body started moving and I crawled up into his lap, wanting to be as close as I could get. He turned slightly as his left hand pulled my hips closer, his growing erection pressing right against my core. My hips rocked and his rocked up to meet mine.

'Jesus,' he swore as he tore his lips from mine. He captured my face in his hands and stared deep into my eyes. 'Are you sure that this is what you want? I can stop now. But I can't guarantee that I won't hurt myself if I have to stop later.'

I grinned. 'We are _so_ not stopping.'

His lips crashed back down on mine in a kiss laced with hunger and need. My hand ran up the back of his neck and along the smooth skin on his head, little hairs rough against the palm of my hand. He groaned deep in my mouth as I lightly scraped my nails along his scalp, his hips raising off the couch and grinding into me.

'We need to lose some of these clothes,' he growled as my lips trailed across his chin and down his throat.

My lips broke from his skin as I yanked my tank top over my head, his hands coming up swiftly to cover my breasts. Flames licked along my skin as his fingers stimulated my nipples into tight peaks. Needing to feel his warm, bare skin against mine, I reached down and started yanking his shirt out of his pants. He leaned forward and released my breasts only long enough to get his shirt off.

'Oh, God,' he whispered against my lips. 'You feel like fucking heaven.'

My eyes fluttered closed as he nipped at my lips, his thumbs drawing lazy circles across my skin. A deep moan was drawn from my throat as his warm lips made their way down my jaw to my neck. His tongue glided over sensitive flesh along my neck and froze at the pulse point. He drew one lazy circle, then another.

My head tilted to the side, allowing him more access, as I leaned forward. I craved the taste of his skin as if it were air. Nipping and licking my way across his shoulder, my legs slid further apart. He felt warm and thick between the layers of clothing that separated us. If the clothes didn't disappear soon, I was going to go mad.

'I think that we need to move.' My voice was so deep with desire that I barely recognized it.

His hands left my breasts and I whimpered at the loss. His hands left a scorching trail along my skin as they went around to my butt, his body shifting forward as he stood up. I felt feather light in his strong arms as he walked the short distance to my bed, the cool silk bedspread ripping a grasp from my lips as he gently laid me down.

He stood back from the bed and I watched him through hooded eyes. His arms flexed as he stretched slightly before his hands moved to the buttons on the front of his cargos. In agonizingly slow movements, he flicked each button as he stared down at me, his eyes leaving a burning trail along my skin as if he were touching me.

As the last button popped free, my hands came up to my hips to remove my pants. A look passed over his face and my hands fell back to the bed, that was a job that he wanted. My heart rate increased as a smirk came to his lips. He knew he had me around his finger, the power of that flowing through his eyes and moistening my panties.

My eyes trailed over his broad shoulders and hard pecs, the feeling of his warm skin under my finger making them twitch. My hand reached up to check for drool as I admired his impressive eight pack abs and narrow hips, remembering how good they felt between my knees.

The moment of his hands caught my eye as they moved up to the hips that I had just finish ogling. His thumbs hooked into the waist band and started slowly pushing them down. An audible gulp came from somewhere when his erection sprang free.

He is so beautiful, I thought as he stood in all his glory at the edge of the bed. His muscles rippled as his erection twitched when he brought his knees up on the bed. My mouth started watering as I watched his hands come up to my hips. His fingers gently scooped into the waist band and he tugged lightly. My hips came up off the bed, his fingers burning my skin as he pulled down my pants.

A sly smile spread over my lips as he took in the black silk and lace thong I was wearing. My breath hitched in my lungs as his fingers gently ran across the top of the lace. His eyes swung up and locked with mine. I saw a need and a longing that I had never seen before. It was so palpable that I could feel him reach out for me before his body even moved.

Our hands met as we reached out for each other. His fingers laced with mine as he came down to lay on top of me, his body sinking down and lining up perfectly with mine. He linked his fingers with my other hand and brought both of my arms up above my head, our eyes locked together and unspoken words passed between us.

'Is this real?' he whispered, breaking the silence of the room.

'Yes,' I whispered back.

'Will I have to leave once it's over?'

I unlaced my fingers from his and brought both of my hands up to cup his face. If I would have known months ago that we both would have ended up here in this moment, I still would have done everything the same way. There was a naturalness to this, to being here with him. It didn't matter that he just barely said the words, the feelings had been there.

'You can leave whenever you want,' I whispered as I looked deep into his eyes. 'Or you can stay every night for as long as you live.' I grinned. 'I'd prefer the second choice.'

His body shifted as his lips came down and sealed to mine. The sound of fabric ripping didn't register until he slid into me, his hips slamming into mine. He hesitated for a moment to let my body adjust to the intrusion of his before he slowly started pulling out. A whimper erupted from my throat when he got to just his head still sheathed inside me.

A feral growl rumbled up from his gut as he eased back into me. My hands slipped down from his face along his neck and shoulders as his hips met mine again. I scraped my nails down his chest and around his ribs as he started moving back out, his tongue buried deep in my mouth. My nails continued to trail down his back as he froze, just barely inside.

His lips broke from mine as he started kissing across my jaw and down my neck. My breath hitched as my hands came down to his ass and his lips grazed over my pulse point. The skin under my nails gave way as his teeth sank into my skin and he surged forward.

Whatever control either one of us was holding onto to keep it slow was broken instantly. Our breaths became rasps of air as his long smooth strokes turned into blinding slams. Heat and need exploded through my body as my hips started meeting his, thrust for thrust. My toes started to curl as the muscles in my legs started to tighten, a sure sign that my first orgasm with him was right around the corner.

As the first wave of pleasure broke out over my body, his name tore its was out of my throat in a deep moan. His thrust faltered slightly as he cursed, taking a few beats to regain his composure and not lose it himself.

I was only slightly aware of his hands trailing along my shoulder blades as my breath rushed in and out of my lungs. My head fell back as I was raised from the bed, his thick erection still deep with in me. The cold latex paint on the wall brought me back into my body with a sharp gasp.

'Just trust me,' he whispered against my ear as he pulled my left leg tighter around his hips.

My eyes opened and locked with his immediately. The love glowing in his eyes put any thought of concern from my mind like a passing breeze. A lazy smile tilted up the corners of my lips as my legs tighten around him and my arms came up around his neck to anchor my body to his.

An answering smile graced his lips as his head dipped down to my mouth. His right hand stayed down around my ass as his left arm came up to rest on the wall next to my head.

He stood there and kissed me for the longest time, taking the time to enjoy the simplicity of the act. He was intoxicating. His lips and tongue gently making love to my mouth as his erection stayed hard and ready deep inside me. The feeling of his smooth warm skin in heavenly contrast to the hard cold wall at my back. The love and excitement that he felt for me emanating from every pore of his body. In the silence of the room, the sound of our breathing and soft skin moving across soft skin was erotic.

The feelings became overwhelming and the need for some type of release caused my hips to rock in the two inches of space that they had to move in. The temperature of his skin skyrocketed as a small tremble raced through his muscles. The chest leaning against mine froze as his breathing stopped. His lips released mine and his beautiful eyes blinked at me.

In that moment, I knew that I wouldn't be able to walk away from any of this. I took a deep breath through my nose so that I could seal the memory with the scent of his skin, the smell of the sex that we were enjoying permeating the room. As I released the breath, everything changed.

His hip reared back and then immediately slammed back into mine. A blinding speed was set and teeth and lips set to skin. Deep moans and heavy groan filled the silence of the apartment as we both reached out with everything that we had. The muscles under his skin tightened and vibrated as a fine sheen of sweat broke out everywhere.

My hands fisted in his hair as heat licked across my body. I was blindsided by another orgasm ripping through my body, robbing me of my vision and hearing. The only thing left in its wake was the singular awareness of him. The feeling of his lips sealing around my neck as he sucked my skin into his mouth, marking me as his. His right hand grasping my ass as his left hand fisted in my hair. The way that his erection expanded as he released a piece of himself into me. It was everything that it had never been with anyone else before.

The sound of his labored breathing was the first thing that came back to me as he slid us down to the floor, his legs wobbling as we went down. His lips came back to mine in a tender kiss that said thank you, I love you, mine. My arms came around his chest as he tucked my head under his chin, giving me a tender squeeze as he cuddled me closer.

'That was amazing,' he whispered, finally breaking the silence.

'Indeed,' was the best that I could muster up as I regained my breath.

We stayed on the floor for a few more minutes before he finally gathered up enough strength to pull us both up and get us back on the bed. He walked, shakily, to the bathroom and disappeared. The sound of the toilet flushing was followed by the sound of the shower starting. He returned to the bed and gently pulled me into his arms, carrying me into the bathroom and straight into the shower.

'We'll sleep better clean,' he said quietly as he sat me on my feet.

The warm water felt almost as good as his soapy hands did. We shared soft kisses and light chuckles as we took turns gently washing each other, too exhausted to do anything more. I admired his body as he dried off, my eyes falling over his name tattooed across the back of his shoulders.

My gut twitched. 'Is Callahan a family name?'

He nodded. 'I go by Cal because my fathers name is Callahan as well.'

'So if you had a son...'

He turned and looked deep into my eyes for a moment. Something flashed through his eyes. An unknown wanting? He searched my face for a moment before a light smile tilted up his lips.

'Tradition is important to my family,' he finally said. 'I'd want to pass that down if we have a son.'

I blinked. 'We?'

'That's if we decide to have kids,' he finished.

There was that 'we' again. A small smile tried to tug at my lips. I'm part of a we. _I'm_ part of a _we_. He chuckled at whatever expression formed over my face.

'Fear not, Kitten,' he said as he grabbed my towel and placed it on the towel bar. His arm came around my waist as he guided me out of the bathroom and over to the bed. As we climbed under the covers and snuggled close together he added, 'We have plenty of time to figure all that out.'

As my eyes lowered and sleep started creeping in, I smiled.


	15. World Domination Starts With Just One

__

Disclaimer: None of them are mine. Smut, bondage, and a small twist at the end. TART!

Author's Note: A big THANKS to: Kate for being the pink fairy, Cat for being inspirational, and Mud for, well, you'll see.

****

World Domination Starts With Just One

Oh, holy shit!

On any normal day, Stephanie Plum is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Today, blew every other mental picture of her out of my head. She was a wet dream come true and my hands were aching to take hold of her. However, I knew the rules of the game. I could look and drool all I wanted. But, I couldn't touch her without her permission. I think that's probably what turns me on the most. That I have to ask first, and that she has the authority to deny me.

She was standing in front of the couch in my living room, her leather clad body torturing the hell out of me. She stood with her hands on her hips shaking her head sadly as it hung low.

'I thought I told you that I was coming over and that you needed to be prepared,' she said, clearly disappointed as she lifted her head and locked eyes with mine. 'You don't look like you are prepared for me. My instructions were very clear.'

They had been crystal clear. I was to wear the black leather pants that she had left on the kitchen table with the note. That was the only thing that I was to be wearing when she arrived. It was perfectly clear in the note. But, I wanted to see just how far she was willing to go in our little game. I wanted to know what would happen if I bent the rules.

'Your instructions were clear,' I stated as I stood from the chair that I had been sitting in at the small kitchen table.

'And yet, you disobeyed me,' she hissed as she took a step closer to me.

Her bright blue eyes flashed just before they darkened. It was hard for me to tell who was more turned on. Me for wanting her to completely over power me. Or, Steph for having such power over me.

She looked down at my wrists and said, 'Take them off. Now.'

'You left rope burn on me last time,' I said, stating my case.

She lashed out with a speed that I had never seen her previously use. Her right arm swung out and the leather strap that she held in her hand connected with my face. The left side of my face burned like fire and, for a moment, I thought my eye was going to pop out of my head. But, damn it all to hell if my pants didn't get tighter as my dick got harder. I couldn't help how much I enjoyed being dominated by Steph.

'And I'll do it again if you don't obey me,' she said flatly, her patience with me starting to wear thin.

As I reached over and started taking off the ace bandages that I had wrapped around my wrists to protect them, I made the mistake of letting out a sigh. The sigh earned me another smack, this time on my right arm, from her thick leather strap. The skin on my arm stung for a moment. But, the lower half of my body responded and I felt my pants tighten even more.

Once I had the bandages removed, she took a moment to inspect the rest of my body as she walked around me in a circle. I now stood before her in only the leather pants as she had instructed. Her fingers lightly ran over the muscles of my back as she stopped behind me. My breath caught in my throat as I felt the end of the leather strap slide across my back.

'Hands behind your back, Soldier,' she whispered huskily in my ear, sending a jolt through my body at how nearly her body was pressed to my back.

I obeyed immediately, not wanting to push her limits too soon. I felt cool metal wrap around my wrists before I heard the familiar sound of the cuffs clinking closed. She pushed me forward and I fell to the floor on my knees, wincing slightly.

My mouth was like the Sahara as she came around and stopped right in front of me. Her pussy was mere inches from my face, her amazingly tall heeled boots putting her at just the right height. I could hardly draw a breath, let alone swallow. My tongue ran over my lips in an effort to wet my mouth and suddenly the urge to run my tongue over every inch of her body was growing as I mentally cursed the cuffs that bound my hands behind my back.

I caught sight of the leather strap falling to the ground as her hands came up and fisted in my hair. She ran her hands though my thick black hair for a moment, stopping to play with the curls that were starting to wisp around on the back of my neck.

The leather pants, the cuffs, and the sudden realization that I could smell her, was almost more then I could handle. My erection was almost to the point of being the most painful thing that I have ever experienced. I wanted her. I wanted her to control me. To dominate me. To push me down and fuck me. I wanted her more than I had ever wanted any other woman and it was going to kill me.

Her fingers tightened in my hair as she yanked my head back to look up at her. Her eyes locked on mine and my breath caught in my chest. They were dark blue, the color of storm clouds, and her pupils were dilated. The small smile that was forming on her lips was disturbingly sinister.

'Stick out your tongue and pant like the little bitch that you are.' The anger in her harsh whisper was frightening. It was the most angry voice I had ever heard her use.

My mouth immediately fell open and my tongue slid out past my lips. In one quick movement, her legs parted and she moved forward. My tongue slid across her extremely wet, and very bare, folds. No wonder I could smell her, she had cut out the crotch to her full body, leather suit and completely shaved herself. Holy Fuck! I've been having this wet dream for months.

I tilted my tongue slightly and moved it up between her lips, slowly moving it from her clit to the back side of her opening. She let out a throaty moan as her fingers tightened in my hair and pulled me closer. She tasted like pure heaven and I just couldn't get enough of her. I slid my tongue back up to her clit, applying pressure as I flicked it back and forth.

Her orgasm ripped through her body and I sucked hard on her to catch every drop the flowed out of her. Her short panting breaths had my cock twitching and I ached for her as she languidly slid down my body and came to rest on my thighs. A beautiful smile grew over her lips as she ran her fingers through my hair a few times, silently letting me know that I had been a good little bitch.

'That was good,' she finally said.' But, not good enough. You're going to have to try harder next time.'

'As you wish, Mistress,' I said as I slightly bowed my head to her.

She reached behind my back and unlocked the cuffs before she stood up and stretched out her legs. My hands immediately went to her thighs to try to loosen up the muscles, but she slapped them away with a sharp 'Tsk, tsk.' I was over-stepping the boundaries again. I hid a smile as thoughts of her punishment crossed my mind.

'You're having a problem with the rules tonight, aren't you?' She asked as she bent over and placed her face just inches from mine. 'I let you have a nice treat and then you behave so badly. It looks to me like you need more punishing.'

'I apologize for my insolence, Mistress,' I said quietly. 'It'll never happen again.'

'You're right,' she said with a nod. 'It won't happen again because you are going to learn your lesson.'

She quickly righted herself and took a few steps back before she seated herself on the couch. She leaned all the way back and crossed her very long left leg over her right. Her eyes flickered over me as she considered her punishment. I saw something wicked cross over her eyes before a smile appeared on her pouty lips.

'Stand up and take off your pants,' she commanded.

I slowly stood up and complied with her demand, freeing my still hard cock from its prison of leather. Folding my pants a few times, I set them on the kitchen table next to me. She hated it when I left a mess. My eyes fell back on her and I saw her tongue slide out between her lips and it made a lazy trail across them before disappearing again.

'Where is the rest of the care package that I left on your table this morning?' she asked once her eyes left my penis and settled on mine.

'In my closet,' I simply stated.

'Bring it to me.' She commanded and I obeyed.

I retrieved the black plastic bag from the floor of my closet. Bringing the bag back over to her, I knelt down on the floor and waited for her to hand out my next punishment. She slowly opened the bag and started pulling things out. A black studded leather collar, a six foot long leather whip, leather restraints that looked like they were meant to attach to a bed, a full leather face mask with a zipper over the mouth, a red ball mouth gag, two tubes of lubrication, and a blind fold. The bag was not fully empty, my punishment being left out of my sight.

She crooked her finger for me to come closer. Without a second thought, I moved between her legs as she uncrossed them. She motioned me closer and I crouched so that the insides of my thighs were touched the couch. She kissed me softly on the lips before she winked at me and placed the blind fold over my eyes. My ears instantly became my strongest sense and I tried desperately to figure out what she had in store for my punishment.

I heard packages being ripped open over the sound of a wrestling bag. I trusted her with my life. I knew that if I simply uttered our safety word, she would stop immediately and everything would be fine. But, fear started weaving its way through my veins as a cold sweat broke out over my skin. It was the part of the game that I had yet to be able to control in myself.

'Stand,' she commanded.

Every thought was wiped from my mind as my throbbing dick slid into her warm, wet mouth. A moan vibrated up through her throat and bright white stars formed in front of my eyes. It was one of the most erotic feelings I had ever experienced. Her soft tongue sliding over my shaft, the desperate need for release growing in my gut even with the knowledge that I was at her mercy. Mercy that she held high above me in her firm grasp.

'Holy shit.'

My voice was just a whisper as it fell from my dry lips. She had pulled my dick all the way into her throat as she eased some sort of rubber phallus up my ass. The mixture of pleasure and pain flowed through me, battling for power. Pleasure won the battle as her teeth grazed over my flesh, sending chills down my spine.

Her tongue soothed me for several long minutes as she continued to run it over me. It was heaven in hell. The need to fall over the edge, but never getting there. Her ultimate form of punishment. She slowly slid me out of her mouth, placing a light kiss on the tip before she slid something over me. A penis ring. Ensuring that my orgasm was still going to be completely at her discretion.

A gasp was ripped from my lips as her mouth surrounded me again. I loved the way that her soft tongue swirled its way around me as she took me deeply into her throat. The world fell away from me as I focused solely on the pleasure that she was giving me. She purred lightly as her hands moved over my thighs and snaked their way up to my hips. With one last torturous suck, she slowly released me from her pouty lips.

'I think,' she finally said as she pushed me back and stood, 'that it's time for you to undress me.'

That may the most wonderful thing that I had heard all night. I was finally getting the chance to get my hands on her. She removed my blind fold and smiled sweetly at me as she made her way to the middle of the living room floor. The need to take her was growing by the second. But, I knew that if I didn't do as she said, I'd never get to come anywhere near her for the next week. And that would be one hell of a painful week.

'Using only your teeth,' she added with a mischievous grin.

DAMN! And I thought that it wasn't possible to get any more aroused than I had been.

My interest in what was underneath the full leather body suit that she was wearing had been slowly digging at me, which is why I chose to start with the three buckles that ran down her stomach. I took my time, like unwrapping a present that had been sitting under the Christmas tree for three weeks. That's just how I felt. The buzz of anticipation and expectation that comes with opening a present on Christmas morning surrounded me. Only she could have gotten me this worked up.

Once I got the buckles released, I snatched the small tie that clung to the end of the zipper at her throat between my teeth and slowly tugged it down. Inch by inch as I pulled it down, I felt myself become even harder. Her smooth, pale skin peeking out from under the harsh black leather right before my eyes. I pulled it further down past her breasts, noting that she wasn't wearing any sort of support under the suit. I ran the tip on my nose over her skin as I pulled the zipper down her stomach, reveling in the small moan that escaped her lips.

I slowly lowered myself down to my knees as I pulled the zipper further down over her pelvic bone. There, the zipper went out in a Y, going down both of her legs and into her boots. She gave me a small reprieve, allowing me to use my hands to remove both the black leather, knee high boots that hugged her legs. I loved her legs in those impossibly high heels. But, my need to see her sweat slicked, naked skin overpowered any other need that I had.

Once I had her boots removed, I worked my way back up to the zippers. I took my time, moving each zipper only a few inches at a time, building the anticipation for both of us. A small groan escaped my lips when I got both zippers down to her slender ankles, devastated that I was at the end of my long journey. Taking more time then was necessary, I made my way back up her body, peeling the leather back with my teeth as I moved up.

By the time I pushed the leather back over her breasts, I was panting. Her body was exquisite. Slim. Lean muscle curving under her pale skin, evidence that her new workout routine was being kept on a regular basis. I'd have to thank Cal much, much later for his persistence.

While my mind was wandering over how absolutely perfect her body truly was, my tongue acted of its own accord, and slid out to taste her skin. A low pitched growl emanated from her chest. Her hand came up and as she grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back so that I was forced to look into her eyes.

'Unacceptable,' she hissed.

She used her grip on my hair to turn me around and slam me down on the table. She was losing her control and it had an immediately apparent effect on me. A groan fell from my lips as her leather strap struck my ass for the first time. Fire streaked across my skin as my increasingly large erection was smashed into the table. The strap snapped across my ass a second time and I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself silent. She'd stop if she knew just how much I loved this. She struck me a dozen more times before she finally released my hair and stepped back.

'You get one minute to get your act together and get back over here and finish,' Stephanie said firmly. 'If you can't do that, then I'll find someone else to play with.'

The threat was enough to bring me out of my haze. It took a good thirty seconds to get my breathing under control. Once I had calmed down, I pushed myself up off of the table and stood up. It took me another fifteen seconds to get myself to turn around and face her. She was pissed off that I had forced her to use such force on me. Finally, I straightened myself up and looked her in the eyes as I took two steps toward her. It was difficult, but it had to be done. I didn't want her to think that she had won.

Using only my mouth, I resumed slowly peeling the leather back over her shoulders and down her long arms. Her skin was glistening from the suit trapping in all of her body heat and the added exertion of the beating she had just handed out. And her body was steaming from the aroused state that she was in. When the suit was completely stripped from her body, still using only my teeth, I folded it neatly and turned to my mistress seeking permission to again use my hands. Her eyes narrowed while she considered me, on my hands and knees on the floor before her, and then slowly she gave a single short nod.

I was so completely turned on, even with the fire that was still burning across my ass, that I thought that I'd explode with her lightest touch. My breathing was just barely under control, but I noticed that hers wasn't much better. This experience might just be getting the better of both of us.

I laid the folded body suit carefully on the table beside my pants and then returned to my hands and knees before her.

'I think it's time for you to lay down,' she finally said as she turned away from me and moved towards the couch. Then she added, 'On the bed.'

Standing slowly again, I walked over towards my bed and carefully climbed on. Easing down, I hissed slightly as my inflamed cheeks touched the cool silk comforter that spread over my bed. I leaned back slightly, supporting most of my weight on my hands as I placed them behind my back on the bed, and watched Steph collect several things from the couch.

A brilliant smile had formed over her lips as she turned and walked over to the bed. I felt my cock twitch as I saw what she was holding. The restraints. It took me a few moments, but I was finally able to get myself lying down. I watched in silence as she efficiently moved around my bed and secured me to the foot and head boards.

She backed away from the bed to admire her handiwork, flames of passion flickering through her eyes as they fell on my fully erect penis. I wanted so badly to have her envelope me in her warmth, but I knew that I'd have to wait for that.

She slowly started walking back towards the bed, a small smile lingering on her lips as she climbed up on the end of the bed. My heart rate kicked up a notch as I watched her muscles flex under her smooth skin while she crawled up my body. It was the most arousing sight I had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Her soft, wild curls falling forward over her shoulders. Her eyes growing impossibly darker as she climbed further up. The tiny, mischievous smile playing at the corners of her lips. I could have cum, just looking at her.

'I want you to beg for it,' she said quietly as she aligned her body with mine.

I could feel the heat rolling off of her body as I caught the faint scent of her arousal. I had a phantom feeling of sliding myself into her and it caused me to twitch as I felt a small drop of pre-cum develop on the tip of my dick.

'Please, Mistress,' I said no louder than a whisper.

'Please, what?' Her voice was cool and calm, as if none of our previous activities had effected her.

'Please, Mistress,' I started to beg. 'I want to feel you wrapped around me.'

'What do you want me to wrap around you?' she asked as she brought her face down, closer to mine.

I licked my increasingly dry lips, and answered, 'I want to feel your vagina slowly wrap around my dick as you lower yourself onto me.'

'Is that all that you want?' she asked as she started to nuzzle my neck.

'I want to watch you sit on my cock while you touch yourself,' I admitted. 'I want to watch you ride me like there's no tomorrow. I want to feel you pulse around me as you explode.'

A gasp tore from my throat as I felt her moist center lightly glide over me. It was only a split second of contact, but it was enough to take my breath away. Memories of the way that she feels flooded my mind, causing my breathing to suddenly become labored. I wanted her to impale herself on me in the worst fucking way. It was all that I could possibly think about.

'Please, Baby,' I pleaded, breaking my role. Her head slowly pulled back from my neck and she locked eyes with mine. 'Please. I need to feel you. I ache to feel myself slide into you. Please, Baby.'

She slid down on me. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as a growl emanated from my chest, and the rest of the world fell away. My head pushed back into my pillow as I arched my back off of the bed, pulling my hips slightly down so that I could thrust up into her.

She was so completely wet, the wettest that I had ever felt her before. She was velvety smooth and hotter then a volcano. I finally opened my eyes to look up at her when I realized she hadn't begun to move. She was panting and her whole face was flushed bright red.

'Breath slowly, Baby,' I said with a gentle buck of my hips.

Her beautiful eyes widened suddenly as she took in a deep breath. She released it with a deep moan that had my blood racing. Nothing was ever sexier then the sounds she made when I was buried deep inside her.

My eyes focused on her as she slowly started to move. Her lips sought out mine, her tongue forcing its way into my mouth as her desire for me escalated. My whole body embraced her and the feelings that she evoked in me. She was sex at the purest level. But, simmering just beneath the heat, was a love that always surprised me. She has never once said it and I've never tried to push her to. I was perfectly content to let her show how much she loves me when we come together like this.

I wrapped my hands around the restrains that tied to the head board and groaned as she picked up her tempo. The wetness that flooded around me was like gasoline being doused on open flames, spurring my desire for her to the edge.

A fine sheen of perspiration glistened on her pale skin as she leaned up and back, bringing me further inside of her. I felt the first quiver of her muscles as she started to move in her new position. White spots started to dot in front of my eyes as my blood raced though me like liquid fire. I wanted nothing more then to explode inside her. But, I was still at her mercy and that made the pleasure that much more amazing.

Her breath caught in her throat for a brief moment as she tightened around me. The scream that was ripped from her lips was like nothing I had ever heard before. She was like a Siren calling out to only me. Her whole body shook with passion as she continued to ride it out as she thrust herself up and down.

She slowed herself as her orgasm was diminished, a small smile peeking through as she opened her eyes and looked down at me. Her hands trailed from their resting place on my stomach, her nails lightly grazing my skin as they ventured out of sight.

Just as she lightly picked up her pace again, my breath shot out of my chest as she pulled the phallus out of my ass and eased it back in. She set her hand at a slow rhythm of fucking me up the ass as she continued to buck on top of me. The mixture of pain and pleasure had me panting in an instant. It was the most amazing thing I had ever felt. It stirred something low between my legs that I had never felt before. The erotic pressure building in my gut threatened my control.

When I thought I couldn't take any more of the torture that she was doing to me, she pushed me closer to the edge. I watched in breathless anticipation as her hands left my ass and came up to her own body. They immediately flew to her breasts and started tweaking her perfectly pink nipples. She moaned, an intensely low sound, and then shattered into a million pieces all around me.

She finally noticed how shallow and ragged my breathing was and took a small amount of pity on me as she came down from heaven. She raised her beautifully toned right leg and lifted herself completely off of me, a moan escaping my lips at the lose of feeling her. She reached down slowly and removed the penis ring, still leaving the phallus in place.

My head involuntarily pushed back into my pillow as she sunk back down on me, a deep growl vibrating through my chest. My eyes cleared and focused on hers as she leaned forward and touched her soft lips to mine.

'What do you want?' she asked as she pulled back slightly.

'I want you to ride me slowly while you fuck me up the ass,' I said breathlessly. 'Please.'

'I thought you liked that,' she said with a knowing smile as she leaned back up.

My peripheral vision caught sight of her hands sliding slowly behind her back as she started lift herself up, the muscles on her thighs flexing as they moved. The same erotic feeling that I felt minutes ago returned as she played with the phallus in my ass. She twisted it as she pulled it out and pushed it back in. My heart was racing in my chest and I was panting. I desperately wanted to cum inside her, but I didn't want to lose this feeling either. I was torn as she brought me closer to the edge.

Without any warning I felt Stephanies tremble, or maybe I was so deeply consumed by the pleasure that she was giving me, that I didn't notice her orgasm building. But it ripped through her body. My eyes held hers as she bucked with wild abandon.

I had been hanging on an edge all night long, and at the moment she cried out my name, I fell. An intense orgasm shot through my body like lightening. Every muscle in my body tightened, almost painfully, my breath caught in my throat. The breath was torn from me as I erupted, shouting her name with my release.

A smile graced her lips as she fell forward and landed on my chest. I was still trying to catch my breath when I realized that she was undoing the restraints that tied me to the head board. As soon as she had both on my hands free, I shot up with her still in my lap and my dick buried deep inside her so I could reach down to unlock my ankles. She chuckled lightly as she ran her fingers through my hair.

My lips found hers as I flipped her over and pinned her to the bed once I was free. I thrusted my hips a few times to show her that I was still ready for more of her. Not that I could ever get enough. She brought out a desire in me that no one had ever brought out before.

'You're breaking the rules,' she whispered breathlessly after I broke the kiss to work my way down her neck.

'We haven't been playing by the rules for some time now,' I pointed out after I marked her neck for all to see.

'I suppose you're right, Silvio,' she chuckled. I lifted my head out of her neck to smile down at her. She gave me a shining smile as she said, 'Now be a good Bitch and clean me up.'

Oh, yes. One of my favorite things to do.


	16. A Late Night Escapade

_A/N: Cupcake Alert! I know, strange coming from me. But it's for a challenge on another site. Hope you enjoy. Smut Alert as well._

**A Late Night Escapade**

His body collapsed over mine and I savored his weight as I wrapped my arms and legs around him. The satisfaction that he brought me had started making me feel different things lately. It was like coming home when I held him like this, covered in sweat and gasping for breath. His head turned, his lips brushing over my collar bone, and he settled his face in my neck. My left hand slid lightly up his back and into his tangled hair. He snuggled in closer as I gently scraped my nails against his scalp.

He sighed. "That feels good."

"Good," I said as I started running the nails on my right hand gently up and down his spine.

"Am I crushing you?" he asked after a moment.

"Absolutely not," I said quietly. "In fact, I forbid you from moving."

He chuckled. "Then I need to stretch my legs back out before they cramp up on me."

As his legs moved, he slid out of me. The feeling sent a quiver through me and made me sigh. He sent me a crooked smile before he settled back down on me.

"You aren't usually one for snuggling," he commented after a few minutes. "Are you okay?"

I thought about that for a moment. For the last few months, I had spent more time over here at his house than I had at my own place. On the nights that I wasn't there, he stayed with me at my apartment. We talked on the phone a few times a day and last week, when I blew up my Jeep, we didn't have a huge fight. Things were actually going very well. A part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I suddenly realized just how content I was.

"I'm happy," I whispered.

He pulled back to look at me then, propping himself up on an elbow. "Happy?"

"Very," I said as I smiled up at him. "I'm actually very happy. Things have been going very well for us lately."

He nodded slowly. "They have."

I reached up and caressed the side of his face. "I enjoy being here with you, spending time with you."

"That's always good," he said with a smile. "It'd suck if you didn't like to hang out with me."

I laughed. "Yeah." Then I sobered. "I really am happy, though. I don't think I've been this happy in a long time."

He looked down for a moment and then looked back into my eyes. "I know what you mean. It's like this time, something's different."

"I think we're different," I said slowly, testing the words out. "Maybe it's more that _I_ am different. I don't know."

"I'm not sure that it really matters who is different or what the difference is," he said quietly. "I like the way that things have been. I like going to bed with you at night and waking up with you in the morning." He smiled. "The best part about getting called out of bed in the middle of the night is that I get to carry your scent with me instead of washing it off in the shower. Carrying you with me reminds me that you are safe in bed and waiting for me to come home."

My lungs filled with a deep breath and I let it out slowly. "I was thinking, earlier today, that I might give up my apartment."

Joe stilled above me. "Really?"

I nodded my head slowly.

"Live here with me full-time?"

"We already live together full-time."

He frowned.

"If we aren't sleeping here, then we're at my apartment. Although most nights, we're here," I pointed out.

He thought about that for a moment. Surprise lit his face. "You're right."

"Does it really make that much sense for me to keep the apartment?" I asked.

"No," he said instantly. "Fair warning, as soon as my mom hears that you're living here, she's going to be all over us about a wedding. So will your mom."

"Can't we just elope?"

If I had thought that Joe had been still before, I was wrong. He was like a statue now. "What?"

"You heard what I said."

"I thought I just heard you say something about eloping," he said, uncertainty in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the shoulder. "I did." It was my turn to freeze. "Unless you don't want to get married."

His face dropped down into mine so that it was the only thing I could see unless I closed my eyes. "I've never wanted anything more in my life, Stephanie. You are the only woman I've ever wanted to marry."

The intensity in his eyes stole my breath. His body shifted as he reached over to the nightstand on his side of the bed, his eyes never leaving mine. As he settled back on top of me, he brought a small box between our faces.

"I bought this ring yesterday," he said as he popped open the box. "I was waiting for this weekend to propose to you."

My eyes finally fell from his to the box. Resting in the velvet was a princess cut diamond on a gold band. There were engravings on the band that were hard to see in the darkness of the bedroom, but the diamond twinkled with the dim light that came through the curtains.

"It's beautiful," I gasped.

"If you want to elope, we can do it right now," he said, his voice as intense as his eyes were. "Screw everyone else, Stephanie. If you want something quick and quiet, then we'll do it. I will do anything for you."

It was the first time that Joe had ever said anything like that to me and it forced my eyes from the ring back to his face. The tips of his fingers gently stroked the side of my face as he stared down at me with love in his eyes. It was only then that I realized that I had been seeing that look more and more lately.

"I love you," I whispered, my voice failing to move past the lump in my throat.

"I love you, Stephanie," he whispered back, "with every beat of my heart."

My hands came up into his hair as I leaned up to capture his lips. I wanted to swallow his words and take them with me everywhere I went. His tongue slid down into my mouth as I felt him slip the ring onto my left hand. The ring fit as perfectly on my hand as his tongue fit in my mouth. I moaned as I felt heat flood my body.

Joe's mouth left mine as he kissed his way down my throat. His hands caressed the sides of my breasts as his mouth hovered over them. He looked up at me with such want that I felt my womb spasm with joy. My eyes held his as he slowly lowered his head to my left breast, his tongue flicking out just before his mouth captured my nipple.

"Oh, God," I moaned as my hips rose from the bed.

His right hand slid down my body, running around my hip and sliding under me. My breath caught in my throat as he lightly pinched my right nipple and slowly inserted one finger inside me. I felt my muscles squeeze his finger, trying to keep it inside me, as he slowly pulled out.

"Keep looking at me," he whispered as my eyes started to flutter.

His breath caressed my hard nipple as he spoke and sent goose bumps over my skin. I kept my eyes locked with his as he moved over to my right breast. His tongue circled my nipple, causing it to tighten harder and pull a gasp from my throat. My hips rocked down as he added a second finger to slowly glide in and out of me.

"I love watching your eyes turn dark like they are now," Joe whispered as he moved back over to left breast.

My breath was coming fast as he leaned back down and started sucking on my nipple. His hand came back up to my other breast to gently message it and tweak the nipple. It was like a sudden sensory overload; his mouth on one nipple, his hand on the other breast and his fingers slowly moved in and out of me. One last breath was all I could get before I shot out over the edge and thrown off a cliff to soar through the air. Every nerve ending in my body sizzled as my muscles squeezed around his fingers, rippling over and over until it felt like one solid movement.

"You are the sexiest woman I've ever laid eyes on," Joe said as the last pulse of pleasure leaked out of my body. "I could watch you cum for hours."

His voice was deep with desire as he climbed back up my body. My breath hitched as I felt his erection caress my inner thigh. A wave of need struck me so hard, that it pulled my hips off the bed in search of him. He chuckled lightly as he pushed my hips back down with one hand as he leaned down over me.

"I want you inside me." My voice was low, filled with my desire. "Please, Joe. I want to feel every inch of you inside me."

His eyes had gone to a deep chocolate brown, filled with desire. He lifted my left hand from his shoulder and brought it to his lips, lightly kissing the ring that he had slipped on my finger. I wanted to remember this moment for the rest of my life. The way he looked at me. The way he held my hand. The way that my body hummed with anticipation for what was to come. This was one of those moments that every other moment would be held up to so that you could see if it'd measure up.

Joe slowly linked his fingers with mine and place my hand above my head on the pillow. His lips caressed mine with a tenderness that brought tears to my eyes. Both of our bodies were filled with an urgency to connect, but he took time to kiss me softly, languidly, perfectly.

I felt his body shift and then he was ever-so-slowly sliding into me. My breath caught in a silent gasp as my back arched off the bed, bringing him deeper into my body. His eyes held mine and the love that he showed me forced the tears in my eyes to spill over.

Joe froze. "Am I hurting you, Stephanie?"

"God, no," I whispered. "My body's on fire for you, Joe."

A wicked grin flashed across his beautiful lips. "Then it's a good thing I'm not afraid to get singed."

His mouth found mine as he slowly started thrusting in and out of me. He poured every ounce of love that he had into his kiss, filling me with hope and pleasure. He trailed kisses along my jaw down to my ear, nipping lightly before he moved on to my neck. My breathing stopped as he found that sweet spot at the base of my neck, sucking lightly before running his tongue around it in circles.

"Blacking out would be bad, Cupcake," he said with a chuckle.

I sucked in a breath just to cry it out as he bit my shoulder. My hips started rocking up to meet his thrusts, trying to get him to go faster. He shook his head and pulled almost all the way out. A small cry came from my throat as he stopped there.

"Please, please, please, please," I chanted.

He slid his left arm under my lower back and arched me off the bed, bringing my breasts up to his mouth as he leaned over me. I moaned as his mouth started working it magic, each pull of his mouth shooting like an arrow down south. He plunged into me and turned my moan into a cry. He sucked with every thrust, as if the force of the suction was bringing him into me.

Joe pulled me up off the bed and onto his thighs, kicking his legs out as I lowered mine to the bed. His eyes locked with mine as I leaned back slightly and started riding him. My head fell back as his hands and his mouth went back to my breasts. As the fire in my blood started growing hotter, I moved faster.

I teetered on the edge for a few thrusts before Joe pushed me into oblivion as he gently bit the nipple he was sucking. His name fell from my lips as my body quaked with pleasure. Every thrust sent me higher and higher. As soon as one orgasm ended, another started. The feeling of him erupting inside me as he shouted my name sent me spinning out of control, higher than I had ever been.

My brain slowly started functioning again, registering first that we were laying back down and my legs hurt from the bad angle. I pulled my legs down and looked up at Joe. I laughed when I realized that his head was hanging off the foot of the bed.

Crawling up his body slightly, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"I think I might be dead," he said as he gasped for air.

"You aren't," I said as I leaned down and bit his left nipple. His body jerked and I laughed again. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have felt that."

"Don't do that right now," he said with his own laugh. "I need some recovery time."

"Hmmmm," I said as I crawled back down his body. "How much recovery time?"

His breathing was finally calming down. "I'm not sure. Maybe a week?"

"Hmmmm," I said again as I stopped and stared at his softening penis. Looking up at his body, I said, "That seems like an awfully long time to wait."

Joe lifted his head to look at me. His eyes grew wide as he watched me lean down and use my tongue to glide him into my mouth. He tasted like a mixture of both of us and I couldn't keep myself from moaning with pleasure.

"Jesus." His voice was strangled. "You aren't suppose to kill me until _after_ we get married so that you get my insurance policy."

All conversation stopped as I laid down between his legs and slowly slid him in and out of my mouth. We spent the rest of the night sprawled out on the bed, bringing each other pleasure beyond belief. We stopped long enough for a nap and left early the next morning for Atlantic City. Eloping was the best idea I had ever had.

_**Word Count: 2552**_


End file.
